A King's Curse
by Katra21
Summary: The loneliness of a dark ruler as a young maiden unknowingly steals his heart. Movie prequel J/S.
1. Lonely Owl

**A King's Curse**

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A/N: Hello all you Labyrinth fans out there. First I would like to point out that this is no longer the original version of the story. I am writing the author's notes before hand, not really something I am prone to do however I am doing it anyway.

It simply had to be done. I came to this conclusion after re-reading the story and finding the arrangement of events a little less than ideal.

I first discovered Labyrinth after a friend of mine was disappointed that 'Pan's Labyrinth' was not a sequel. I'd like to say that I immediately looked up what this great movie was that could make a good movie like Pan's Labyrinth disappointing, however I didn't. I only watched the movie for the first time this summer. At first I was appalled; I'm not a fan of Muppets. However despite my initial aversion I had the overwhelming desire to watch it again. So I did, and now here I am writing fanfictions.

This particular storyline starts approximately one year before the movie; however it will also cover the movie and go slightly past. Just to give you a perspective on things.

Personally if you've read it all already I'd suggest you go over everything, and maybe... REVIEW!

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Chapter One - Lonely Owl

Ten crystal balls lay on velvet cushions in a display case. Each glimmered with the light of a young maiden's dreams. In each the goblin king could see the faces of the young women he'd given a matching crystal to. His black leather gloves dragged mournfully along the glass.

Sighing deeply, he pressed his forehead to thin sheet that held him back from the past. He pushed away from the case and flopped onto an armchair at the centre of the small room. This was his tower, his place of solitude. No servants dared to enter this chamber and bother him. He dragged his fingers through his thick white hair and curled up in the armchair.

There was the door, opposite it, a table, to the table's left, a window, and across from that, the display case. In the middle of it all sat Jareth, in his armchair.

He tore himself away from his restful state. The window beckoned, outside it his labyrinth stretched almost as far at the eye could see, but the rolling hills marked the end of his maze and the trails into the desolate outlands. Life beyond was difficult, but many still chose to live there instead of within the relatively prosperous goblin city. In reality nothing within the goblin kingdom was exactly 'prosperous', a fact which reminded Jareth of his own inadequacy whenever he thought of it.

Walls within the labyrinth shifted, not an uncommon occurrence. Jareth travelled to the table and pieced together the latest changes on an expansive model. He knew what they were, though he was never sure how. The wooden box next to him which should have held pieces was empty. But there were two identical boxes beneath it, Jareth shifted the empty box aside to expose the next.

The lid opened but not to a box of more labyrinth pieces. He looked into the box of his father's personal items shocked. He stared at it, remembering his father's rule over the labyrinth and his past.

The box collided with the wall with a violent crack as Jareth flopped back into his chair. Contents scattered, a book had made it all the way to budding up against Jareth's boot. Objects of the past were exactly why he'd quarantined this tower from his subjects, however having one so close to his person was increasingly frustrating.

The aging copy of 'The Labyrinth' was gently lifted by leather shrouded fingers. He straightened out the pages and blew the dust off the cover.

He walked over to the box, lifted it properly, and used his magic to repair the hinges. 'The Labyrinth' novel, a photo album, a pet collar, a dried flower, a blue velvet ring box, a pendant that was missing its gem, each was placed gently into the wooden chest. He closed the lid without a second glance and tucked the whole thing under the display case.

Jareth stood, and glanced at the one remaining box by the table, but he didn't dare. Instead he summoned a crystal ball, let it glide be along his hand. Silently he stared into the globe. It could show someone their dreams, as well as stored the dreams of anyone who touched one for himself to see. He stared for a long time into the clear glass. Again and again he tried to call up his own dreams but the magic was useless to him.

Magic turned the crystal into a squirrel and Jareth let it dash along his arm. Then as it neared his hand he caught around its neck, watching it choke before throwing it against the wall. It turned back to its crystal ball state as it flew and shattered against the hard stone, but as the fragments fell to the floor they re-formed the globe.

It rolled back to him.

Frustrated he kicked the ball and watched it shatter again as he let himself fall to the cold stone floor. The crystal ball rolled into his hand and vanished at a whim.

He didn't bother to look at his display case. Dark shadows leaked from the crystals like a poison. The silky black liquid drained along the floor around the Goblin King's boots. He stood up and walked away, towards the window, he tried to make himself oblivious to the ooze, it happened often enough.

"I've got to get out of here," the goblin king moaned.

Black boots thudded down the towers stairs. The goblins were their usual restless selves, and greeted their King with shouts and intoxicated breath.

"Hey, King Jareth!"

"Jareth!"

"King Jareth?"

His intense eyes practically glared at his piteous subjects. "I'm going out for a while, don't wait up for me."

"Out?"

"Into the human realm?"

"Oh I don't think that's a good idea."

"That's a great idea."

"We're bored."

"Someone new to torture."

He glanced around at their drunken merriment. Although they were a horde of stupid fools, they were a good distraction from his own woes. "Well then, what kind of person do we want?" he asked his subjects sweeping his arms dramatically.

"Spineless!"

"No, brave, they're more fun."

"We want a challenge."

"Someone religious."

"Good at puzzles, they'll last longer."

"I want a screamer!"

Jareth, scratched his chin, "How about, a brave religious screamer?"

The goblin subjects cheered, as more spirits were dispensed around the room. A head flew across the chamber resulting in mock body-surfing back to its owner. Jareth smiled, they were a good distraction from just about anything, and he was good and ready to stay and enjoy a rowdy party.

That was when a she-goblin caught his eye. That one was once a two year girl, her father had wished her away, and she had willingly crawled to comforting Goblin King's arms. She wasn't supposed to have become a goblin at all, her mother was given a chance to reclaim her, but her mother was unwilling to sacrifice herself to save the girl.

Jareth turned away from the horde and his responsibilities again. Palace doors creaked open as his body fell off into an owl. The goblin kingdom and the labyrinth peeled away beneath his wings and the human world washed in to take its place. The wind felt good against his feathered form, it was the closest thing he had to freedom.

Jareth watched the bustle of modern life from a rooftop with interest. They were free. Each no matter how poor or rich had a place here to live out their dreams. His thoughts drifted to his crystals, wondering half-heartedly why it had never worked on himself. He vaguely remembered when they had; then again it might have been a memory of his father's magic. Several hundred years did little to aid the memories of a long gone childhood.

He turned his attention back to the people on the street. Despite their freedom, many gave up their dreams, and let themselves sink into melancholy. Jareth could see plainly those who had, their sunken eyes, slouched shoulders, and tired expressions. He rolled a crystal to one of those lost faces.

As soon as the man touched the crystal Jareth had access to his long forgotten dreams, and trepid memories. His name happened to be Norman. Jareth noticed he was a religious man, who screamed a lot, bravery however wasn't apparent in his memories, but he was close enough. The pavement beneath Norman sank as he was dragged into Jareth's labyrinth.

The gaping hole returned to solid ground like a rubbery liquid, people simply walked by ignorantly. Despite that not all were completely lost their clouded eyes could no longer recognize magic, though a young boy stared dumb-struck at the spot, until his time-worn mother pulled him away.

"That should keep me occupied for a while," Jareth sighed darkly. It was routine, he'd done it so many times before. It kept the goblins entertained to tease a human wandering lost through his labyrinth. He could taunt and torture a human into so many ridiculous situations. The labyrinth responded to everyone differently, if it could spark new life into their dreams they would be able to escape it.

Jareth stretched his wings and took flight again, a low soar across the human streets and parks. He toyed with pairing the human up, it gave them more motivation. They were remarkably social creatures and not just in the manner of the goblin's unstructured partying. Their ability to form long-lasting bonds made them resilient where a goblin 

might simply turn away. It was this that fascinated Jareth, made him want to watch them scuttling about his labyrinth. It was this that often made him fall in love. Or at least it seemed like love, Jareth knew he himself was rather uncertain in the subject. He enjoyed to test those bonds of human relationship and for a reason he could never quite determine. The women he'd loved however never seemed to pass.

Thinking on the subject gave him little comfort; he would return his labyrinth and enjoy playing with his latest human toy. He listened absently to tidbits of conversation of the humans he passed.

"Well, you know Margret, she couldn't handle a –"

"-threw the whole thing, at least ten feet."

"Did you see the school play? Absolutely charming."

"and then the spaceship went WHAM!"

"-to the castle, beyond the goblin city..."

Jareth froze, he knew those words. He landed gently on a branch over the young woman who sat sewing next to her big sheep-dog. She flipped to a page in her novel, "To take back the child that you have stolen." He leaned over on the branch to watch her, his head leaning to one side curiously.

She closed her eyes to concentrate and began again. "Give me the child," her voice was sad, full of emotion. "Through dangers untold, and hardships un-numbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city, to take back the child that you have stolen."

She smiled satisfied and hurriedly finished her sewing. "What do you think Merlin?" she asked the dog, holding the dress up to show roughly how it would look. Merlin barked. "Amazing what you can do with old bed sheets."

Jareth leaned to far, and nearly fell off the branch before he caught himself, ruffling his feathers flustered. The girl turned toward a big clock tower just visible over the line of trees. "Six o'clock, time to get home, before _step-mom_ has one of her pregnant lady fits. Come on, Merlin."

She ran off with her dog and her dress, Jareth looked down at the copy of 'The Labyrinth'. She had forgotten it. Jareth landed gently next it, its bindings were worn but well cared for. He looked in the direction the girl had travelled and lifted the book carefully with his talons.

He landed on the overhang of the deck, as the girl opened the door.

"Sarah, you should really come home sooner," came her step-mother's reprimand. "You're too young to be wandering around so late."

"It's fine, I had Merlin with me," Sarah replied, and she and the dog went inside.

Jareth's owl head poked upside down over the edge of the overhang as the door closed behind her.

He left the book for a moment and travelled between windows. Her room was easily identifiable and completely enchanted, stuffed toys sat in individual shelves, fantasy books were stacked neatly between book-ends on her dresser. Her door opened, Jareth ducked out of sight and returned to the overhang to grab the book.

Sarah put her dress on her bed, humming pleasantly. She shuffled through the folds of the dress and froze. "'The Labyrinth', oh no, I must have left it in the park." Frantically she headed to the door when her window blew open loudly. Curiosity compelled her and she turned towards the window and saw her book, lying on the windowsill. She rushed over to it and sighed relieved, holding it close to her chest.

Jareth sighed softly looking up at the clouds. Something about this girl had grabbed his interest, a rare event in itself. He tried her name out, and found it satisfying, "Sarah."

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A/N: Okay, tell me what you think of the re-writes or the story in general if this is your first time reading it, I'm posting all the way up to the new chapter 4 today, so yeah. REVIEWS!!


	2. Norman

**A King's Curse**

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A/N: Alrighty, so as you know if you read the authors notes and came here from the first chapter everything's being changed. The first chapter was barely tweaked; however this one has a bit more impact with the changes that have been made if you want to take a look-see. If you want to just know the important changes and move right along, they can be found right after the chapter. I really didn't want to give up your reviews, but it had to be one, this is the last chapter that will be holding onto old reviews.

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Chapter Two - Norman

The screaming, it pierced through the castle walls without the aid of Jareth's magic. He groaned in his throne rubbing his temples in irritation. "How long has he been screaming?" he asked, mostly to himself, but one of his subjects answered anyway.

"Four hours, and fifteen minutes, not including those three minutes when he stopped."

"No more screamers," another goblin complained twitching on the floor.

"Who wanted a screamer in the first place?" Jareth asked.

There was a silence, from the crowd of goblins at least, and then a desperately crying one was pushed forward and little goblin hands around the room shot forward to point at him. Jareth groaned internally, he hadn't really expected the culprit to be forced forward. His subject trembled before him, the poor fool. Jareth rolled his eyes for now he had no choice but to make the snivelling worm an example. The obvious choice was the bog of stench, but that would do nothing to stop that horrible screaming.

He rolled a crystal ball in his hand before tossing what was now a roll of duct tape to the goblin. "Go silence that repulsive 'Norman' or I'll throw you into the bog of stench."

"Yes sir," came the meek reply as the goblin scampered off.

"What time is it in the human world?" Jareth asked.

"A quarter past three," replied the same goblin who'd been keeping track of how long Norman had been screaming, it had a big clock transfixed to its chest.

"I'm going out," Jareth said flatly, walking past his subjects and out the door. In his owl form he slipped from one world to the other taking perch in an aging pine over-looking a large brick building.

A bell rang and the teenagers piled out with their backpacks in tow. Jareth perked, having spotted Sarah's silky brown hair. She left the building with one of her peers, a girl with short blonde curls who chattered incessantly.

"And he was so cute, I swear if he had asked me out right then and there, I would be all over him."

"Sounds like Prince Charming," Sarah said with an awkward smile.

"Prince Charming? Get real Sarah, he was CUTE."

"Cute isn't everything, I mean look at Beauty and the Beast, he wasn't the least bit cute, but they still fell in love," Jareth cocked his head to one side as he listened.

"That has got to be the dorkiest thing you've ever said." Sarah drooped as they reached the bike racks. "I'll see you tomorrow Sarah," her friend waved goodbye and pulled out her bike from the rack and pedalled off.

"Bye, Nicole," Sarah pushed her backpack up her shoulder and headed down the street.

Jareth followed, he didn't question himself as to why. Why had always been a notoriously painful sort of question; simply because there was never any solid answer. Unlike what time it was or who had asked for a screamer, the why questions actually required some level of deep thought. Deep thought was too much right now, so he drifted on his wings in the soothing breeze until Sarah reached home. Where upon he perched upon a nearby tree and waited for her to exit with Merlin and her various other accessories.

Merlin's walk was constant, and it was that consistency which made Sarah easy to follow, and therefore, not a bother. She wasn't worth the bother; she was a steady interest, and a far more peaceful distraction than rambunctious goblins.

Sarah slipped into her home made gown and opened her book, today it was 'Beauty and the Beast.'

Jareth watched awestruck as the girl brought the story to life, eventually embracing Merlin as the fallen Beast. She then placed with dignity her home made tiara on her head and danced around the field before flopping under her favourite tree. "True love really exists, doesn't it Merlin?" Sarah voiced her own woes to her dog. "It's not a waste of time to wait for prince charming right?"

Jareth ached. It was a dull silent ache, from a source he could no longer identify. He glided to the ground, returning to his normal form to lean back against the opposite side of the tree from Sarah.

"True love, just has to exist Merlin," Sarah cried out somewhat sadly. "There are princes and kings, and grand balls, masquerades, opera houses, dwarfs." Sarah's voice grew in intensity. "I know it has to be real. Elves, fairies, goblins, and trolls, there are dashing knights and..." here her voice dropped again to a doubtful whisper, "shy and completely average girls that they fall in love with."

Jareth stared at his boots. He continued to stare at them as Sarah gathered up the day's treasures and beckoned Merlin home. It wasn't exactly thinking, the danger of which was clear, more of just existing. It wasn't one of his usual pastimes, but just inhaling and exhaling breath under this tree for the moment was both frustrating and therapeutic. Finally Jareth let out a sigh and transformed into his owl shape. His wings flapped heavily, he circled the park a couple times before letting the human world fade into his own.

A restful silence filled the air. Jareth returned to his castle. "Well it seems like you've shut Norman up." His subjects all lay exhausted from dealing with the fellow and as well as the party they'd had afterwards. Jareth nudged a few aside with his boot as he made his way back to his throne. He didn't stay there for long however, his tower, and the solitude it provided, beckoned him. Even if the other goblins were all sleeping peacefully there was something to be said about being physically alone.

There was a wafting breeze that traveled through the tower today. It whistled around the room and out the window. There was often a very calming effect to the relatively small space when it was like this. The cushion of his chair made a small puffing sound as Jareth sat down on it. A magical clock summoned itself next to Jareth and showed the remaining time his current victim had left. Twenty minutes. He pulled out a crystal ball to glance at Norman. "Even if you raced down the correct path you'd never make it out in time."

The crystal and clock vanished and Jareth looked up, towards the display case and the ten crystals within it. He stood and stepped towards the case before turning back and returning to the seat. Still he stared at the case, his fingers drummed on the arm of the chair frustrated. He leaned his arms on his legs and allowed his head to flop down into his hands.

Jareth's mind wandered back to sitting under the tree. What was he doing, Sarah was fascinating, but she had left, and he had remained under those emerald leaves. He looked down at his boots, they were not fascinating or thought provoking, even when he imagined the light from the trees dancing along the leather it lacked the feel of under the tree. Grumpily he kicked off his boots and stared as his stocking feet, nothing mind-boggling about them.

He stood up again and practically stomped over to the glass case. His fingers moved to the indent in the glass wall that would allow him to slide that gateway open, but he didn't touch it. His fingers dangled just a short distance away. He pulled back his hand, his fist clenching tensely.

Jareth fell back to his chair, his mind leached backwards. Perhaps it was just a trained response from the room; the tower was always where he came to reminisce. No matter the case, his father's kingdom echoed through his mind. Manicured gardens, smooth grey stones, even the goblins were well under control back then.

Jareth had no doubt that if he were to run his own maze, he would fail. So what made him so worthy of testing the humans? Nothing, a Goblin King chose his successor. Jareth was the first king to take the throne by birthright.

Jareth walked up to the case of crystal balls with determination, but stopped about a foot away. Norman would be waiting in the Dusk Space.

Dusk Space was the Goblin King's version of a waiting room, once a victim had either completed or failed the Labyrinth they found themselves there. It was made as a reflection of the human psyche. Only a small walking space existed there as the pieces of their adventure, indeed the labyrinth seemed to fall past them. It was brilliantly set up, and anyone left alone there had a tendency to go insane. Which was entertaining, but with someone like Norman it wasn't worth the time.

Jareth glanced over at his abandoned boots.

Norman sat bored stiff and haggard on the only piece of ground that wasn't floating away from him. He had a piece of duct tape around his head and another around his hands to prevent him from removing the tape around his mouth.

"It seems that you've failed." Jareth snickered pleased behind the man, causing him to scamper to his feet and begin whimpering through his tape. Jareth always liked this part because this was where he got to bargain and have the pitiful human fall to their knees and beg for mercy. Jareth walked towards the man until backed up to the edge of the small platform and allowed Jareth to approach and rip off the tape.

"Aaurgh!" Norman screamed in pain before he started babbling scriptures. Jareth assumed they were supposed to be scriptures, because the babbling was really more accurate. "Seek God, stay, better off black hole, fireworks all over Philistia, shadow, of evil, rod and staff, pain!"

"Are you about done?" Jareth asked.

"AWAY FROM ME SATAN!" Norman yelled before dashing away to the other side of the rock.

Jareth snickered, his flair for the dramatic sneaking up on him again. He dropped a crystal ball which turned into red smoke, and then summoned two more which turned into snakes in his hands. "So, you've seen through me," he turned to Norman with a sinister grin. "Well then surely you must know what I want."

Norman's mouth lolled without so much as a whisper. Watching the snakes, that didn't seem to crawl further up, but as they moved they grew in length, the tips of their tails remaining in exactly the same place as their bodies increasingly coiled around Jareth.

Another crystal ball dropped behind Jareth and covered the remaining rock in black flames. "I want your soul!"

Norman screamed, like a pitiful little girl.

"Give me your SOUL!"

"Please there must be something else," Norman cried curling up into a little ball.

Jareth froze, here he would ask for children or other loved ones. He stared at the whimpering man. What did he want? What could a Goblin want but more subjects? Jareth blinked, he didn't want more subjects, he didn't want this man as his subject. He could already picture the horrible screaming goblin that would run around the labyrinth flailing wildly.

Jareth's arms drooped. What did he want? One thing popped to mind. It was a stupid, childish request, and far too petty for his elaborate game. However the thought of trying to figure out why, in order to elaborate, was irksome. The problem with those sorts of questions, internal or otherwise was well spelled out.

Jareth instead decided to blurt out his trivial inclination.

"Beauty and the Beast."

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A/N: If you skipped the chapter to read this shame on you. But the original had no musings of Jareth's father or birthright, and the formation of the tunnels has been removed entirely.


	3. Consider it Granted

**A King's Curse**

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A/N: Hello again rabid Jareth fan-girls, because we both know that's what you are. This chapter is almost completely new content so it's definitely worth a boo even if you're just looking at the changes that have been made. Events are now officially in a completely different order. If I hadn't re-ordered everything this would have been chapter eight storyline, and it doesn't work, just flat out doesn't work when it's over there, so now it here. I would love anyone who reviews. Reviews please.

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Chapter Three - Consider it Granted

The room was full of papers. Bursting with papers, in fact. So the only way that anyone could tell that the Goblin King was in there at all was the bit of hair that bobbed above the piles from behind the desk. It was so overflowing that opening and closing the door was a health hazard. Death of a thousand paper cuts was not pleasant.

Jareth wondered why it had taken him so long to get all this done. Indeed many of these papers were at least five hundred years old. Summons, invitations to events long past, and notes from their complaint desk.

The goblin kingdom was the first to have a complaint desk, mostly because the goblins had a lot of complaints, and it was much easier to delegate the task of listening to them.

Jareth's approach to ruling had been a rather haphazard one, the basis of which was that if the people were given the ability to fix their own problems they eventually would. It wasn't a very good approach, and more often than not problems went on because the goblins were too busy partying to do anything about fixing them or the problem wasn't something they could fix. For example, there was a horrible pot-hole on the city's main street, and there was also an assigned road crew, they just all happened to be passed out from too much liquor. The bog of eternal stench on the other hand, was just there, without rhyme or reason, except perhaps for something to complain about.

One of the animalistic goblins, a cat with slick black fur and a less than becoming high collared dress stepped into the room and stopped dead.

She actually had to walk around the desk to believe it. "You are doing papers?" she muttered, completely boggled.

"Yes well," Jareth couldn't think of a proper explanation. A proper explanation required a knowledge of the why, which he avoided adamantly. "You're in here because?" he redirected the why question to the cat.

"Just more complaint papers, Your Highness," she said and handed the sheet to Jareth's open hand.

"Someone has a stomach ache?"

"Stomach flu actually, small epidemic, though I'm not sure the complaint desk staff quite understood the concept. There were just enough stomach aches to warrant it reported." The cat goblin stared quite fondly at her king, but then he got up from the desk.

"Well I think I'll be going out."

She blinked, and simply stood and watched him leave, still in shock that he was there in the first place. "Young master Jareth, what are you thinking?" she questioned herself as the door closed and she was forced to duck to avoid the flurry of papers.

Jareth walked past the goblins and their present siesta and out the door, his owl form taking flight.

The goblin kingdom slipped away under his owl's wings and he landed outside Sarah's school. There was still time, his mind wandered back to his desk. What exactly had compelled him to paperwork was a perplexing matter indeed. Perhaps it was finding something to distract himself from 'Beauty and the Beast'. He still hadn't read it.

The bell rang.

Jareth suddenly felt tense, the answer to which was another why he didn't want to bother with. Then there was a familiar laugh. Sarah was laughing and smiling with Nicole. He found himself relaxing; something about her smile just put him at ease.

"A Halloween dance is going to be so much fun," Nicole said. "Are you going to wear a costume?"

"Definitely, but I don't know what I'd go as," Sarah beamed, "my wardrobe isn't exactly good costume material."

"I'm going as a cat-girl," Nicole said with a wide smile. "I could loan you a good playboy bunny outfit."

Sarah flushed at the thought, "No, its fine, I don't think I'm exactly bunny style."

"Then we've gotta go shopping," Nicole grabbed Sarah's arm and walked her bike to the nearest general store. Jareth followed absently, it was the first time Sarah had not gone straight home to walk Merlin. "Cutest costumes ever."

"Really?" Sarah asked, and giddily followed Nicole into the store.

Costumes? Halloween? Jareth debated for a brief moment before descending to some bushes and assuming the appearance of a passerby before walking in.

Sarah had stopped; her eyes wide in awe and delight in front of a powder blue dress with sparkly blue and white fairy wings.

"You'd look pretty gaudy in that type of dress," Nicole said, and Sarah drooped.

Sarah looked at the dress for a minute longer, "Its Halloween, she said decidedly, I'm allowed to look gaudy. I'm going to ask my dad to buy it for me."

Sarah's face was filled with determination, and it made Jareth smile as she walked by briskly. He kept his face averted so as not to attract attention but one of the costumes, one that looked much like a cheap imitation of his regular clothes, had just given him a very motivating plan.

"It's been a long time since I've gone to a proper ball," he said and left the store to follow Sarah, a nearby bush enabling his transformation back into his owl form.

Hurriedly Sarah walked into her house; her unrestrained excitement poured like a waterfall into the family home.

"Dad?" she called as she walked into the study, Jareth moved around the house in order to be able to hear, he liked having an owl form even if for nothing other than this. The nocturnal senses were far keener than his own naturally. "Dad, there's a Halloween dance going on at my school and there's a really, really pretty costume."

"That's nice dear," her father replied, almost absently.

"It's just down by the store near my school, its powder blue and comes with a set of butterfly wings," hope glimmered in Sarah's voice. "Could you?"

"That's nice dear," Robert repeated again, then patted his daughter on the head as he left the room.

Sarah watched her father walk away, and stood numbly for a long time. She trembled slightly, fighting back tears. As the tears started she tore away from her numb state.

Jareth made a guess, he flew up to her bedroom, everyone needed a place of sanctuary and this was hers. He was right, a moment later Sarah burst into the room and collapsed at her vanity. Sarah moaned quietly, but he couldn't make out what she had said, if he wanted to know what was going on, he'd have to make a bold move. Entering a young lady's bedroom, was definitely not his style. He was confident however that his shadow magic would be able to conceal his whereabouts.

In this case however Jareth guessed wrong. As soon as he teleported into the room a breath escaped Sarah's lungs and she looked around the room. In fact she stared directly at Jareth, she had picked up on him entering the room.

However a tip of her head and Jareth knew her magic was not as strong to unravel his own completely, just to sense its use, he would have to use discretion if he ever planned on doing something like this again.

"Sarah," her father's voice pierced through Sarah's concentration.

"What is it?," she asked, her hope that her dad had paid attention rung through in her voice.

"Irene's been taken to the hospital, she's going into labour."

Sarah turned angrily back to her vanity, "So, why are you telling me?"

"Just thought you should know, don't forget to walk Merlin."

Sarah pulled out her brush and began brushing her hair to keep herself calm. "He thinks more about the dumb dog than he does of me," she said clearly hurt.

Jareth stepped towards Sarah a brief moment, but then stepped back making sure his magic was still in place to remain hidden.

"And soon, he'll have another child to take care of; I'm surprised he even thought of me enough to tell me." She threw the brush down against her vanity table. She grabbed her copy of 'Labyrinth' and headed downstairs. "Merlin, time for your walk boy."

Jareth took to the skies once more and followed Sarah to the park. He landed on a pillar, for she stopped in the middle of the field. She opened her book and read over a couple pages.

For the part she practiced she started in a slumbering position, and then began whirling around. In her mind she saw the fierce creature that had entered her bedroom and turned into a man.

"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice sounded regal as the character she portrayed. "How dare you enter my bedchamber with your dark magic."

She paused, as in her mind the response of the intruder came. Jareth whispered the words to himself. "I am the Goblin King, sweet princess of this human realm."

"Goblin King," Sarah's acting was perfect. "What right do you think you have to be here?"

"I come to offer a gift."

Sarah made the gesture of swatting it away. "I am not interested in petty jewels."

"But it is magic, it will give you your fondest dream. Tonight a male babe has been born into the royal house. Your father shall make him the royal heir and deny you your right."

"Mine, not yours, you have no business here, leave my bedchamber at once."

"As you wish," Jareth whispered with a smile, he remembered this tale, and not simply from Sarah's telling of it. He looked at her with a gentle sigh, and then he saw the image of a young maiden with black curls and fair skin. He blinked, looking again at Sarah's silky brown hair and fair complexion.

Sarah still acting out the part of a princess, looked over to where she had pretended to swat the jewel. She reached down and picked it up, moved it to her bedside table before returning to her bed. "I shall ask the smith to make it a pendant tomorrow," she said firmly and drifted into imaginary slumber.

Sarah sat up and started reading, before growling and flopping flat onto the grass underneath her favourite tree. Merlin plodded over and laid his head across her stomach to ease his mistress' frustration.

Jareth landed beneath the tree and took his human form, leaning his back up against the bark. His muscles were tightening with every minute against the tree. He stared at his boots, which made him very angry. He stared at them grumpily berating himself internally for staring at them so intently while Sarah lay unhappy on the other side.

Merlin whimpered. "No Merlin, I don't blame you," she comforted her dog, "I just... I wish I had that dress."

Jareth smiled. He spoke the only line repeated regularly in the book, "If that is what you wish."

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A/N: Alright just so no one freaks out on me, no the cat goblin isn't in love with Jareth. Okay. Just thought I'd clear that up so no one is bothered by it. If you really want to know what's up with the cat you'll have to keep reading, and REVIEW!


	4. Archaic Gestures

**A King's Curse**

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A/N: Okay, I officially love my re-arranging goodness, this part is so totally prefect here, and the now later parts being later is just so absolutely brilliant it boggles my mind. This is why you should plan out your story better before you write it! Oh well that's life, and logically since I already know the whole story, and I'm delighted by the changes then logically you should be delighted too, and REVIEW! Oh you must review!

This is the second chapter of all new content, and just the fact that I need new content to get anywhere from it I'm going to have to just forgo saving all your reviews. TT However I'm saving them all in a word file for if I need extra support. However I strongly believe that the new storyline arrangement is better. I'm loathe to think that this chapter once was.

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Chapter Four - Archaic Gestures

Jareth stood among the students body at the Halloween party. It was a big school, no one really noticed a stranger, or it might have just been the magic. He had created an illusion to appear at a younger age, at least a thousand years younger for him.

Magic is notorious for vague memories. The majority of the student body would forget his face afterwards. However it was important that he didn't seem out of place within the present moment.

Despite his magic, anyone looking would still find him out of place, his regal clothing, regardless of being fitting for the season showed his proud and stately manner. Logically he should have chosen something different, something that wouldn't have betrayed his noble blood, but he wanted to come forward with as much of himself as he possibly could.

Sarah drifted through the Goblin King's mind as he sipped what the humans called, 'soda'. He was anxious, as he always was when it came to the girl, he'd left the reveal of Sarah's dress as a surprise for himself, and he already regretted it. He glanced towards the gymnasium doors, and turned away again with as a soft sigh.

It wasn't his sort of party. It was neither the rowdy and deliberately obnoxious goblin shindig nor a royal gala of the more civilized company within the labyrinth.

Civilized company, it was a rare word when speaking about the labyrinth. Most of his subjects were, before they changed, human children. Although the change gave the new goblins a completely new mindset and memories, most were, like the brains of their true forms, under-developed mentally. They had all eternity to learn, with the mind of a child.

That was what made the change is animals so ideal, a child wished away a pet, but their minds were, more often than not, already at full capacity for their species, and so they gained intelligence rather than simply the ability to speak like most goblins. The exception to this was of course the goblins made from adults, those who surrendered themselves to the labyrinth willingly typically.

Taking in adults as victims itself was a tricky business, usually if they could not regain their dreams within the labyrinth itself they would die if they were turned into goblins, and usually if they regained their lustre for life they could fulfil the conditions for their release from the prison. Thusly intelligent conversation was rather lacking within the labyrinth, especially considering that the more intelligent goblins made their dwellings outside his maze rather than the city within.

Jareth looked towards the door again. Sarah had yet to arrive, and Jareth was now nervous as to whether her parents had allowed her to come at all. He was about to turn away when he saw a hint of blue.

The elegant dress inched nervously around the corner, carrying a young lady with it.

Sarah was stunning. The blue dress fit like a glove, a square neckline with puffy short sleeves. It fit the form of her chest perfectly before almost flowing the floor it brushed ever so slightly. Her hair was pulled away from her face, but fell in gentle waves down her back until the wings sprung behind her.

Jareth's mouth hung slightly agape, until he noticed her lost eyes. She was as out of place at this party as he was and he felt himself drifting towards her. Then a pair of over-sized cat paws pushed Sarah out into the crowds. Nicole was, aside from being scantily dressed for the day and age, thrusting Sarah into a veritable horde, from which there was no return.

Jareth looked out into the crowds with a sad moan. It was much easier to navigate a party where half the partygoers were only as tall as your boot. He slumped against a wall, the chances of him finding Sarah in this mess would be difficult, even then he'd have to pretend he hadn't met her before and that could be awkward if simply trying to approach her.

That's why it was such a disturbingly pleasant surprise when Sarah pushed her way out of the crowd just about three feet in front of him. "Can't stand the crowds either?" he asked, just to start conversation. Sarah looked at him, her hands folding over themselves awkwardly before she nodded.

Jareth was looking at her, talking to her, and she was responding back, his heart leapt into his throat which accounted for a long moment of silence. "So... who are you?"

"Oh... um... Sarah Williams."

"No, I meant your costume," Jareth said with a chuckle, he already knew her name.

"Um... I never quite decided, I think I'm just a fairy."

"Such a fancy gown, surely you must be a princess," Jareth beamed, he was enjoying himself way too much, she was nearly beet red.

"I guess I could be," Sarah replied, "Who are you dressed as?"

Jareth took his dramatic licence to the extreme, he bowed deeply. "I am Jareth, the Goblin King." His head came up just soon enough to see Sarah's eyes sparkle with delight.

"I love that book; I didn't know anyone else read it!" Her delight was obvious and of course it only heightened Jareth's own enjoyment.

"It's not a very well known book, I wouldn't be surprised if we were the only two here who have."

There was silence, her adolescent awkwardness shone through. Jareth however didn't want to wait for her. She was unbelievably cute so flustered. His voice summoned up a softness that even surprised Jareth, "Would a fairy princess mind if a goblin king escorted her to a less occupied part of the dance floor?"

Sarah blushed, and began staring at the floor and thusly Jareth's boots. This made him saddened; he didn't want Sarah staring at his boots. He'd stared at his boots and so he knew they were not fascinating in the least. So how could he get her attention away from the floor? She was new to balls and parties and he had to show her the ropes and how not to stare at people's uninteresting shoes.

Jareth knew of only one proper gentlemanly way to get a lady's attention. It was a practically archaic gesture, but this was Sarah and she of all people would be able to appreciate it.

His hand caught hers, and he brought it to his lips for a brief but tender kiss.

Now that had gotten her attention away from the floor, she was now too startled to even think about looking down. "Shall we?" he asked still holding her hand.

It wasn't much, but in her bewilderment her hand gently squeezed his back. They drifted along the wall to find a suitable place to dance. Somehow her hand around his had gotten his stomach turned in knots.

It was only practice that got Jareth through these moments. He'd had a good dance teacher. Knowing how to gently apply pressure that moved a woman into a dancing 

position without her noticing was the most useful trick in the book. Indeed the simplicity of it was art, he knew exactly how to hold her in order to make her legs move in time with his own and it served him well.

Sarah was staring into his eyes, dancing without a single thought on her part, and doing it beautifully. Her head moved with a curios glance to one side, she noticed his eyes, really noticed them.

Jareth always felt awkward about his eyes, his pupils were different sizes and it made them seem different colors. However his eyes were far less a problem, he froze up and failed to support her properly, and thusly she tripped. He was now holding her, entirely, he caught her as she fell, and they were now virtually pressed up against each other. He felt his own face grow hot as Sarah was having trouble getting to her feet. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she pushed her weight off of Jareth and stumbled slightly. She lifted her dress to look at the shoes, one of which was now completely broken. "Oh no," she groaned. "Cinderella lost her shoe, I break mine."

"Something wrong?" Jareth asked. Although he'd been paying complete attention to her predicament, he wanted her to feel confident in telling him.

"My step mother is going to kill me," she said mournfully. Jareth helped guide her to the edge of the gymnasium and the wall. "I wasn't even supposed to be borrowing these shoes in the first place, but they were the only ones that matched the dress." Her shoe slipped off of her foot easily, Jareth prodded the clearly irreparable sole. "I wish I didn't break them," Sarah said while her eyes were growing misty.

"If that is what you wish," Jareth said beaming and held up the now complete shoe. "It just separated from its pins, it'll hold for now, you should probably get some adhesives on it once you get home though."

Sarah wrapped her arms around Jareth in a hug. "You are amazing!" she put the shoe back on carefully and looked back towards Jareth, the awkwardness returning. "So- um..." Sarah asked sheepishly.

Jareth merely held out his hand, and then gently led her back towards the middle of the room. Jareth changed the music with his magic.

_It's only forever  
Not long at all  
Lost and lonely_

_No one can blame you  
For walking away  
Too much rejection  
No love injection  
Life can be easy  
It's not always swell  
Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl  
'Cause it hurts like hell_

_But down in the underground  
You'll find someone true  
..._

"Sarah," Nicole came over. Jareth felt his whole body sink as Sarah pulled away. "You busy bagging a hottie; I knew you had it in you."

"No, I was just uh..." Sarah looked back at Jareth a moment. "It's not like that."

The words stung. He couldn't understand why he was so emotional. Sarah, already he wanted to retreat to the safety of his tower.

"Well then if it's not like_ that_, you won't mind my cutting in," Nicole shot a glance at Jareth. Suffice it to say, he was not interested, Nicole was an unimaginative flirt. He wanted Sarah, no one else.

Sarah looked back and forth between the two. "I... I... guess I..." Sarah hesitated. "Shouldn't we be heading home soon?" she asked Nicole. "I don't want to wait around 'til midnight and have my dress disappear."

"You wouldn't mind her dress disappearing would you killer?" Nicole winked at Jareth.

Jareth looked at Nicole horrified, how Sarah could stand to associate with someone like this was beyond him.

Sarah stared at him a moment, then took off her shoe, and held it towards him. "How's a prince supposed to find Cinderella without one of her shoes?" she said forwardly then bit her lip and started staring at the floor, and consequently Jareth's boots.

"What about you step mother?" His hand came forward, his hand wrapped around hers instead of the shoe until she pulled her hand away leaving the shoe behind.

"I'm used to getting yelled at," she continued to stare bashfully at Jareth's boots.

"Well a Goblin King doesn't need shoes to find his princess," he said smoothly. He bent down, placing the shoe back onto Sarah's foot. Since Sarah would not look up at him, he would look up at her. And he was frozen again for what seemed like a long time, and also what seemed like not long enough, "All he needs is for her to wish hard enough."

"Sarah's got a boyfriend," Nicole chimed.

"Nicole!" Sarah turned towards her friend and began chasing her away, her face red.

Jareth watched Sarah chasing Nicole away. She would forget, his magic would make sure of that, she wouldn't remember the song or the shoe; she'd probably forget she'd ever met him here.

He could never grant his own wishes, he couldn't dance with Sarah forever, so that the magic wouldn't wipe away that look in her pale jewel like eyes.

"I wish that you wouldn't forget this night," Jareth said sombrely.


	5. The Trouble with Goblins

**A King's Curse**

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A/N: Alright, chapter five, more new stuff. It has come to my attention that you lot cannot review a new chapter if you reviewed a chapter of the same number previously. So crum. That's life deal with it. I'd encourage anonymous reviews, though I know most of you won't give me any. If someone out there knows how to remedy this little bug please let me know, in the meantime I'll just keep trucking along without the reviews. I love all your support, and I'll chat with you again in the next chapter.

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Chapter Five - The Trouble with Goblins

Jareth sat sideways on his throne, his back ached, and the position probably wasn't helping. Sleeping on Sarah's roof was a big difference from his restful bed. In any case he'd refused to leave her side while the memories were still fresh in her mind. For right now he was finding inspiration from that night and held a stack of papers lined for composing propped against one knee.

Tone of black feathered against pale lips. In fact it was a feather pen, a particularly long and audacious feather pen. Jareth had received it as a gift for his thousand and five hundredth birthday. He threw himself a party every five hundred years. It was his mother who had encouraged him to keep track of his birthday. His father expressly considered it a 'load of tripe'. It was something that no other goblin did, keeping track of their age or birthday.

"How old are you?" he asked the nearest goblin to prove the point to himself.

"Who knows, who cares," the goblin replied. He found his own response very clever because he began laughing. Nearby goblins, feeling out of the loop, began laughing as well despite that none of them were paying attention enough to realize what they were supposedly laughing about.

Jareth attempted to return his attention to his stack of papers. They were lined for composing, but he didn't have anything written other than a chorus, and nothing else was coming to mind.

"I'm stuck," he said finally.

"Oh no."

"Stuck!"

"Do you need help?"

"Would a hammer help?"

"You don't look stuck."

"Once I fell down a hole and was stuck for three days."

Jareth shook his head, two words had devolved into chaos, "Not that kind of stuck you bumbling twits."

He could have been writing in his bedchamber.

Better idea, he could have been writing in the tower. There was a breeze today too. It would sweep in the window and the whole room would echo with the slow, soothing, whistle. However as interesting and thought provoking as the tower might be Jareth was waiting.

Patience was something that had never come easy to the Goblin King. Having subjects who would willingly jump if you so much as snapped your fingers wasn't the sort of lifestyle that developed such traits. Jareth could remember very well how he'd disliked magic classes because the teacher had always said that he wasn't ready. He used to practice spells that were beyond him on the roof of the tower.

Despite this, Jareth was amazingly patient if you compared him to the other goblins. Most goblins didn't have the patience to read a book, they would always flip to the next page before they finished reading the page that they were on. As a consequence of short attention spans literacy rates among goblins were very low.

The extremity of literacy differences was why most complaint desks took written complaints only. It avoided the messy business of an intoxicated fool babbling incessantly about the particularly bad smell of their own feet. That long conversation was recorded in excruciating detail and attached to a suicide note and deposited into a newly installed 'written complaints' box.

In any case, Jareth's patience was waning.

It was boring. So amazingly boring. Jareth attempted to determine whether or not he'd ever been more bored in his entire life. He supposed that his many years he'd probably been more bored, but nothing recently enough to make a good comparison.

Now with a new question in mind Jareth attempted to determine how long he'd actually lived. That was undoubtedly a question worth pondering, simply because of how rarely he thought to think about it. Jareth sat for a good long while measuring benchmarks of time with his fingers. Eventually he determined that he had lived a thousand and six hundred years, however in that time only about a hundred and sixty had gone by in the human world. It made travelling back and forth more convenient if he wasn't surprised by new technology every time, he only visited every hundred years or so from his side.

None of it should really matter to an immortal anyway.

However it mattered to Jareth, time between the human world and the underground was often difficult to measure because they two were not set rhythmically to each other. Ten hours on the goblin side could be ten minutes there, or vice versa. He could affect time in his own world but not the human side. He would often freeze time in the goblin kingdom before crossing over so that he didn't miss anything important. But it made it difficult to keep track of what might be happening in the human world at any given time in the labyrinth, which was why he was now, stuck waiting.

Jareth flipped through his pages absently. However the hard surface he was using to write on is what now caught his attention.

'Beauty and the Beast' stared up at him with contempt for never having been read. So to satisfy the book Jareth tucked the papers underneath it and opened the cover. There was crispness to the pages, which expressed how gratified it was to be opened. Reading this book seemed a fitting accompaniment to his waiting. After all he was waiting for news of Sarah.

Two of his more trustworthy goblins were posted to watch over Sarah and report to him any wishes that she made. There was a portal leading from a back room to Sarah's backyard for their convenience. It would be very impractical to have one of his goblins running the entire labyrinth to tell him that Sarah had wished for bubblegum flavoured toothpaste.

His hopes weren't very high; Sarah had come home to a lecture on staying out too late from her step-mother. As a result she had gone to bed angry, which, more likely than not, had pushed the already subdued memories even deeper. Still, she was a girl filled with hopes and dreams, and therefore a million wishes, if she thought to make them.

So he waited, singing softly, "Its only forever, it's not long at all." He could still see her eyes, soft and somewhat lost, a sadness that came from unfulfilled wishes. Those pale jewels could never escape his memory.

Then his eyes widened, and he closed the book to bring up his sheet music. Notes and words moved almost like liquid onto the page. His back ached, but still he closed the gap between him and his paper until... he leaned back with a warm sigh. And began singing softly again. "There's such a sad love, deep in your eyes, a sort of pale jewel open and closed within your eyes. I'll paint the sky within your eyes."

"That was pretty," one of the goblins said. Jareth span to look at it shocked. He had completely forgotten where he was. Now however the whole room had turned to look at him, awestruck.

"Yes, well," Jareth could hardly believe how awkward he felt, in front of half his subjects. He'd shared his music with them before, but this felt so different. Concealment was the only option; he could do that, just a bit of flair and glitter. Standing he swept his arms around the room dramatically, "So glad you enjoyed that little ditty; now let's liven up this room with some real music."

A rowdy party song filled the air through Jareth's magic and the goblins began passing around the various intoxicating substances that frequented such events. Jareth merely sighed relieved that the attention was no longer on him and sat back down with his sheet music.

This song, wasn't for them, it was for Sarah.

"Victim house tour, round three is starting in ten minutes," a goblin called out in the chaos.

"Victim house tour?" Jareth got a distinct sinking feeling in his stomach, and looked around the room for the goblin who'd said such a thing. However the goblins had gotten very unruly, very fast. He moved through the party, not caring what chicken or goblin he kicked on his way to the door of the back room.

There it was a crude sign on the door which read: VIKDUM HOWS TOOR 50

Inside was a long nosed goblin, taking money and handing out tickets. In fact it was one of the goblins Jareth had specifically ordered to watch Sarah.

Jareth stared menacingly at the goblin, the door slammed behind him. "Tell me, what exactly do you think you are doing?"

"You picked a real good one this time," the goblin chuckled. "We're going to have some real fun running this Sarah person through."

Jareth twitched; it would be obvious to anyone who looked that he was not happy. The other goblins in the room backed away careful not to attract attention to themselves as they inched into a corner. His magic was leaking from him in a swirling purple aura. However the goblin that had made him so mad was obliviously counting the money he'd made. Jareth had been patient all day; he wasn't going to wait for this stupid fool to finish. The dark leather glove wrapped around the goblin's throat, and hoisted him into the air.

"Tell me, what exactly do you think you're doing?" Jareth asked again as the goblin gasped and thrashed in his hand.

"Just making- some money-"

"What do you think you're doing?"

The goblin thrashed about and looked at Jareth confused. "Tours?"

"What do you think you're doing?" Jareth asked, it was now obvious he was trying the get his subject to guess.

"I'm showing- the guys- your new- victim."

Jareth's grip tightened and his patience had run dry. "You are disobeying a direct order," he watched the goblin gasp. "You were simply supposed to watch Sarah and tell me if she made any wishes!" Jareth brought the goblin close to his face, "You have made Sarah a spectacle for your own gain, I don't like that."

Jareth dropped the goblin to the floor to stop him choking and waiting for him to gather enough air to start again. "You dared to defy a direct order," Jareth glared at him.

"You mean she's not another victim?" the goblin asked, squirming away uncomfortably.

Jareth's aura faded. What was Sarah? He wouldn't include the goblins in a fleeting fancy. He wouldn't post them to watch any mortal, except when he wanted to make them a victim. But he didn't want Sarah to be a victim of his labyrinth, so why was he watching her so intently.

Why questions, he couldn't answer them. Instead he decided the best course of action would be to cause his boot to make contact with the goblin in the general direction of the portal. So he did.

"You are not to come back, unless you're actually reporting news. If you so much as touch one hair on her head I will chuck you into the bog of eternal stench, got it?" He asked, sticking his head through the portal.

"Yes your highness," the goblin whimpered.

"Anyone else who wants to go see Sarah is now assigned to watching her," Jareth yelled at the group of goblins still huddling in the corner of the back room.

Thusly he stormed off, through the party his goblins were having, grabbing his papers on the way he made his way to his tower. Sarah wasn't going to make any serious wishes in the next five minutes, and he need to escape for just a moment.

The wind was blowing much harder than he'd expected, the tower was howling as he opened the door. Still, he needed a minute to be alone, and made his way to the chair in the centre of the room, and thanks to the room's shape, the chair sat in the eye of the storm.

"Sarah," he whispered. He didn't want to work through how he felt. "I'll be there for you, as the world falls down." And so he continued composing.


	6. Could He?

**A King's Curse**

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A/N: So I have to post the chapter a second time with a sob stroy on me not getting reviews. Have I no shame? No, no I don't. I was very disappointed that no one seemed to be paying attention to the re-writes and reviewing.

However I post a sad note and get two reviews right off the bat, I feel loved.

I was ready to give up on the story,which I stated before I re-wrote the author's note...again, but your speedy responses have lifted my spirits, so I'll re-do the author's note just to keep you lot informed.

However I would like to straighten you guys out a little. This is a total re-write. You may have read in the OLD VERSION much of these events, however it is now completely different. Sarah's not _still_ hung up on Matt this is now the first chapter he is mentioned in.

If that is confusing I suggest you go back and give everything a quick read over because the storyline has completely been re-ordered. Still I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter Six – Could he?

Jareth sat restlessly in the tree. It would have been a strange curiosity to see an owl so twitchy; he fidgeted grasping and releasing the branch with his talons, regularly ruffling his feathers.

The school bell rang. There was added buzz among the students today. The goblin king tilted his head and watched the curiously heart-felt gatherings. Then he noticed Sarah leaving the school building, her blonde friend still tagging along. The buzz certainly did not exclude her. Jareth swooped in low to listen in on their conversation without the interrupting sound of other conversations.

"Come on Sarah," Nicole begged her. "I know you have a crush, spill it."

Sarah blushed shyly, and Jareth felt his chest tightening. She couldn't have been talking about him, the memories were buried, and so she liked someone else.

"Its none of your business." Sarah stopped at the bike-rack with Nicole, and gave her friend a hug. "Enjoy the time off, I'll see you next semester."

"Or during tests, but please Sarah, I want to play matchmaker."

"I- Nicole, stop embarrassing me, you're horrible."

"I know, but you're like a little kid, you're just way too easy."

"Okay Nicole, I get the idea, see you later," she waved and turned away to head down the street to go home.

Sarah had a particular amount of glee to her face today; Jareth stared fascinated at a parcel Sarah carried carefully. Actually she practically cradled the wad of newspapers, with the exception of one moment where she stopped to spin her parcel over her head. The object had such affection given to it; must have been very special. A present perhaps, from that crush she reportedly had.

It wasn't long before Sarah reached home. Jareth entered her room and sank into the shadows ahead of time, so that he wouldn't trigger a response with his magic; she had nearly caught him the first time he'd tried.

Could he?

He waited, Sarah wasn't coming.

He could see his goblins, hiding in various locations, and they were getting restless with him around. "Am I not allowed to watch my own victim," he hissed quietly and they quieted.

There was faint yelling from downstairs.

Sarah burst into the room with a sour face. "It's not fair," she said firmly and gently placed the wad of newspaper onto her vanity before flopping on the bed. "Why do I have to give up my weekends to babysit Toby? I hate having a baby brother." She flipped onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "Irene is spoiling him rotten and I'm getting the short end of the stick. She wouldn't expect me to give up my life over a baby if I was even just four years younger. So why should I, it's not fair."

Sarah sat back up and look towards the parcel on her vanity. "I suppose you'll be wanting out now." She sat down, a calm smile gracing her face, she unwrapped the papers carefully. "Sorry I didn't have time to paint you," she muttered to the statue before heading to her closet for her drama clothes.

Jareth gaped at the figure, which was a quite remarkable resemblance to himself. It was an almost perfect replica actually, with an amazing attention to the details. He could have melted right there, Sarah had made an amazing sculpture, of him.

Perhaps she had remembered, just slightly, their dance, maybe he was the reason she blushed. Sarah was ready to go to the park, but Jareth lingered there in her room.

He walked up to her vanity and lifted the statue carefully; she had done an exquisite job.

A copy of 'Cinderella' was placed on the night-table thoughtfully. Jareth looked over it quickly, this was the story that had inspired her the night they danced. Humans were rather fascinated by fantasy, and each book picked up was another insight into Sarah. He breathed a soft sigh as he put the book down and then exited in owl form from the window.

Wings outspread; he soared higher than usual towards the park. His heart warmed inside his chest, the sunshine of her smile had melted him again. Surely she had remembered, the statue, the book. He glided beneath Sarah's favourite tree and took his normal form and sat in the shade of the bushes with his back leaned up against the bark.

Sarah, in a few short months, had pushed Jareth to thinking harder than he'd thought since he stopped taking etiquette lessons. He was quite opposed to thinking, especially thinking hard, especially thinking why. However now he was thinking of something far too strident to act upon without thinking through.

One foot stood in the human realm. One foot stood in the realm of magic.

Could he?

Jareth noticed that he was staring at his boots. Why was it always his boots? He rebuked himself internally until he heard Merlin's playful bark approaching.

Sarah came over and sat beneath their tree. She leaned against it, the two of them on opposite sides. It was their tree, his and her tree, he liked the notion. She was far away but it was her tree. It was quickly becoming his favourite place in the human world with the exception of wherever Sarah was, so it was his tree. It was a spot they shared, even if she was completely unaware of that fact.

"Let's practice this chapter," Sarah said, and showed the page to Merlin as she stood up. A familiar tawny old landed in the branch of their tree to watch.

Sarah moved slowly, properly, her poise was excellent. There was a soft sigh, "Well at least father is happy."

Jareth now knew what was going on, the princess stood alone and distant in a grand masquerade celebrating the birth of her baby brother. "Grand party for a little home wreaker," Jareth voiced the lines of the Goblin King quietly.

"Leave me alone, you foul beast," Sarah said fiercely and moved away. The Goblin King had attempted many times to get the princess to wish away the baby at this point, Jareth could understand the dislike.

Sarah attempted to storm from the party, however she stopped as her arm was caught by an invisible source. This was not the Goblin King, "Lord Rayne."

Jareth didn't bother; he'd never liked the character.

"No, not leaving, I was just, removing myself from some bad company." Sarah looked in a different direction, a very in character gesture. "Not yours of course," Sarah lifted her hand, it was actually in response to Lord Rayne lifting her hand to kiss it. Her shudder was perfect.

Sarah drifted back to the middle of the room, swallowing a grimace just in time to start dancing. Sarah danced across the grass with the grace of a swan. She was angelic and graceful naturally, every step was her, in essence. Sarah looked up before turning her head away again, "How many times do I have to tell you the answer is no."

Sarah's face whirled to where her dancing partner's would have been. They widened in terror. Jareth had always hated that Lord Rayne character, though the name made him laugh.

Jareth returned to voice the next Goblin King lines. "May I cut in?"

Sarah now backed away; Lord Rayne had none gone on the offense towards the Goblin King. Sarah stepped forward bravely. "He's an honoured guest of my father, Lord Rayne, no need to get defensive. There will be plenty time for the two of us to dance."

Jareth smiled, "Its only one dance," he said. Sarah now moved away, and began dancing again, this time with a very different character.

"The last thing I need is the two of you ricocheting off each other," Sarah sighed, "but, thank you."

"Evelyn, I would do anything for you," Jareth whispered. "If you said the word I would vanish completely from your life

"What, you would end your fickle pursuit of my affections?"

"Of course, if that is what you wish."

"Men," Sarah muttered.

"However I would be much happier if you wished for me to sever that fool's head from his shoulders."

"Goblin King!" Sarah said offensively.

"You know you really should use my given name in a crowd like this, Evelyn," Jareth whispered from the tree. This scene, if Sarah remembered this would be the scene. Jareth took to the ground and resumed his human form and looked around their tree.

Could he?

"It wouldn't be proper," Sarah replied. "First name basis, I might as well walk over and tell Lord Rayne that you'd proposed."

"You would risk the whole thinking you mad then?" Jareth whispered still, he wished he could say the line from the empty space of her invisible dance partner.

"I have a deranged king who grants my every wish madly in love with me. If I am not mad already, I think saying your name would prove me so. So I will digress."

"Make a wish."

"Making wishes only ends in pain, why don't you make one?"

Jareth would have leaned in close, right next to her ear. The Goblin King in the book merely asked Evelyn to say his name. That was not Jareth's wish. "I wish you would remember."

Our Goblin King looked out to the field, towards Sarah. She was following the book, and now the book would have Evelyn speak Jareth's name. It should have been Nerzel, the Goblin King's name. The so called princess should have been named Amelia. Jareth himself was named after the book character and not the other way around. A peevish detail, but now he would have the ecstasy of Sarah speaking his name.

Could he?

No it was not a matter of could, it was a matter of would. Jareth dug his fingers into the bark of the tree. Sarah would speak his name. Would he use this opportunity? Yes. His name was a summons, and he could appear before Sarah. He concentrated, ready to have his magic sweep him into Sarah's sight the moment she spoke his name.

"Well then if that is all it takes to satisfy you then I would be a fool to refuse. Wouldn't I, Matt?"

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A/N: If you review, I'll be even happier.


	7. Pain

**A King's Curse**

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A/N: I'm just wondering, is it sob story author notes that get reviews. I complain and like five minutes later I have two reviews. Are we that bad, that impressionable? I may not be desperately lonely for reviews now, but I still like getting them. I like knowing that I have so many of you supporting my writing. However I'd like to earn them with the writing and not just a sob story author note. If you want a sob story I can write them for every chapter.

How about this? I feel like Jareth does for this chapter. No I don't, but despite being the shortest chapter I've written, this one's a real toughie for Jareth. No, not the digital pitchforks!

Anyway, just a quick reminder, this is a re-write, your head might be in the clouds of the old version, so go back and look it over because its entirely different, this chapter takes the place of what was once chapter four so you should look at the changes because they are very important. And also REVIEW, prove my sob story theories wrong.

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Chapter Seven - Pain

Air, what was air? What was breathing? Jareth thought he knew, but his body had forgotten. The air had escaped his lungs, as Sarah said someone else's name. It should have been his name. His gloved hand came up to his face, he couldn't look at her. More accurately he didn't want her to look at him, but of course, he knew now, she wouldn't. He'd tried so hard, he was even going to reveal himself to her. Then she had said someone else's name.

What did he expect? Sarah wasn't just going to say his name, and agree to be whisked away the moment she spoke his name. They were from separate worlds, there could never be any 'them' or 'theirs' not even the tree.

Jareth dragged his hand against the bark, it felt different. Actually it wasn't the same tree. Somehow Jareth had teleported himself back to the labyrinth without his own knowledge. The magic he'd released to prepare himself to appear before her had run rampant and forced him back to the goblin kingdom.

There was a distinct sinking feeling in his stomach. Jareth recalled why he always teleported in his owl form. His lunch leapt up his oesophagus. Goblin food was terrible going down; however having it come again was even less pleasant. The sensation of the ground beneath his feet while changing worlds had always given Jareth the most horrid motion sickness.

He looked at the tree; it was gnarled and dead, like so much in his kingdom. However, beneath it, were at least a hundred fresh green leaves. The tree itself had died in a matter of moments.

Jareth wanted to go home. He wanted to crawl into a ball in his tower and feel miserable. He tried to take his owl shape, but it refused him. He'd have to walk home the old fashioned way. His chest burned, but not like fire. It was agonizing. It was almost a cold sort of heat that made Jareth wrap his arms around his own shoulders. It felt as though his rib cage was growing tighter and tighter around himself. It felt like everything was closing around him. The labyrinth itself was getting smaller and smaller.

Jareth's elbows dragged along the walls of the corridor he moved down. His head whirled down shocked, and for a moment he could have sworn he saw the walls bubble away from him.

Confusion rippled through his entire body. He was the Goblin King; he was supposed to know what was going on. Rule required him to understand, and he didn't, he didn't understand any of it, least of all himself. He was no king, no ruler. He was a puppet master who held his monstrous creations on strings that he ignored.

He couldn't concentrate, he couldn't think. He didn't think he could even breathe, but he must have been for he managed to stay conscious. His chest burned. Falling unconscious would have been better, safe and alone in the dark of his own mind.

Dreamless... he didn't have dreams, so why would being unconscious be any different from just falling asleep? Perhaps unconscious he wouldn't realize he couldn't dream. That didn't make sense, perhaps his dreams were just about not dreaming so he could never call them up. But that couldn't be, if he could dream at all he would dream about her, so logically he couldn't.

Pulling out a crystal was not the least bit productive. "Show me my dreams," he almost pleaded of it. The crystal was silent in his hand, but the walls of the labyrinth were tightening in on him again. He needed to see, just for a moment that he could make Sarah happy. He wanted to believe that somewhere in his dreamless soul that somehow it would work if he tried hard enough. Still the crystal was silent. "Please!" he demanded, in oxymoronic fashion, of his magic.

Black ooze leaked from the crystal and he threw it from himself disgustedly. His gloves were covered in the stuff so he tore them off and summoned new ones. Damn black ooze was what had started him wearing the gloves in the first place.

The goblin city and his castle were on the horizon. He needed a distraction, anything. One of the goblins could surely talk to him; bring forth a matter that would require his attention.

There was silence as he entered the throne room. Perhaps it was the feeble way he held himself. Then again it might have been the sheer misery that must have been across his face, but the goblins just looked at him quietly. None would step forward to risk their own skin to ease their king.

What else had he expected them to do? They were not a mothering bunch. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that a couple goblins were holding back the one goblin who was trying to reach him. The cat goblin was trying to push past from the direction on the study.

Stupid ideas come best to mind when for whatever reason you're not thinking clearly. Jareth certainly wasn't thinking clearly. Most days he'd only get up to two emotions, bored and spiteful. Very rarely he'd also get a very warped sense of pleasure that usually came along with teasing some poor soul in Dusk space. What he was going through now couldn't possibly be described with less than fifteen emotions, and frankly he couldn't place a single one. So instead, and this is the stupid part, he pulled on an emotion he was more used to, spiteful.

Jareth lowered his arms. They were horrible. He was horrible. And their puppet strings had been far too slack of late. His leather boot came in contact with the closest goblin. He summoned crystal balls which exploded in color and fire and sent the goblins screaming as he threw them around. The goblin however had to run past him to get to the door, he starting picking them up by the throats and hurling them back towards the flames he'd created.

He did this as he moved towards the corridor. It led just about everywhere else in his castle, the tower, his bed chamber, the kitchen, everywhere. However as Jareth walked in he was suddenly within a long complicated stairwell.

It was insane to just look at it; there was now an Escher room that had somehow constructed itself in the amount of time it had taken him to walk home. Jareth knew his way around instinctively, however there were already several goblins just running around lost.

Entering his bedchamber, Jareth collapsed face first into his mattress. His whole room was and artistic blend of white and black. The only thing colourful in the whole place was the copy of Beauty and the Beast that Norman had traded for his freedom. This fact made it almost impossible to look at anything else upon entering the room. Several times he'd pointlessly snapped at a servant who dared pose a question about it.

He needed a distraction, anything. Something to take his mind off of someone else's name. No one was permitted to bother him in the tower, but they would come to his room. He sat up on the bed and stared towards the door, his foot tapping in irritation; he leaned on his other foot and glared at the door. No one would knock, and he knew it.

Jareth got up and walked to the corner of the room and kicked the wall. No one was coming to distract him from his own emotions. He just got to steam away until he settled back in to spite and did something even more destructive.

He'd make this, Matt, run the Labyrinth.


	8. Miserable Fool

A King's Curse

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A/N: Reviews are a frustrating thing. I started this story getting seven or eight reviews a chapter, then when the last version of this chapter came out, it got ten reviews. I was inspired, but shortly after writing and posting two chapters after it I realized the story required a re-write, so the whole thing beginning to end was re-done. And as I posted, I got next to no reviews, of course some of you couldn't post reviews having posted reviews before, which isn't the case with this chapter so I hope you all review it, I expect I'll get a proper look at how many people actually read and review with this chapter. It was disheartening that the only review I got was that of my IRL best friend.

Honestly I bear my soul in the author's notes, let alone the story. It felt like an plain old rejection. I even have a copy of the guilt inducing rant about how I would never post another author note. However, you are spared from that bit of unpleasantness by the three people who reviewed chapter seven, they know who they are, and the pair who decided to PM their thoughts to me. It really helps me guys.

I may be a whore for reviews but I don't want to write bloody sob stories and over dramatic poppycock to catch up to those FaeMail sellouts.

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Chapter Eight - Miserable Fool

Jareth loathed the boy. Two weeks of trailing Sarah around school. Twenty six hours of following around Matt. The boy really shouldn't have been worth this much effort. Sarah was. Jareth wasn't sure when Sarah had gone from a distraction to worth half a month of effort directed to finding a boy she crushed on. Sarah had managed it. Despite all probability, despite all logic. Sarah was worth the effort.

And now Matt was tooling around in the Labyrinth.

Jareth hadn't even bothered searching the boy's dreams. All he'd done was dangle something pretty and the boy's eyes had lit up with greed. Jareth had proposed a challenge, become a knight in shining armour within thirteen hours and he would have all the riches and fame he desired.

"What a stupid thing to do," Jareth tapped his riding crop against his boot as he lounged sideways in his throne watching the crystal.

Matt's image was displayed in it. His jeans were tattered his shirt seemed to be covered in dirt and he had a piercing in his left ear. Overall he looked like he'd been through quite the ordeal with the exception that he had looked like that since before he ever entered the Labyrinth.

Overall the boy gave the exact opposite impression of prince charming. "He doesn't even get the concept of 'knight in shining armour'."

The goblins around him were throwing another of their wild parties; they practically threw themselves around the room, or against each other. Jareth moaned, these parties were really quite stupid, but he could still remember when he was the instigator instead of just sitting around. However today they were celebrating a new victim, they always seemed to have so much fun watching someone else be miserable.

Jareth was relieved that the lot had gotten over the tiff he'd had earlier. His anger was now directed at a much more deserving source, and that was saying something. "He's not good enough for Sarah," Jareth growled at his crystal angrily.

"Sarah?" the goblins stirred

"That's the girl whose house was toured."

"Ooo, are you going to pair them up?" this goblin was kicked.

"I'm going to take that as a no."

The goblins knew their King, knew of his fascination with human bonding. However they were still clueless about Sarah, for which he was glad. It was probably due to the fact that they had the attention spans of goldfish. However even with the fact that he'd sent goblins to monitor her they had yet to see past their own bulbous noses.

Jareth himself wasn't sure why she fascinated him so. He didn't understand the concept of love, not after a shelf of ten crystals, because after all it didn't seem like he loved them, in the end. He wasn't ready for her, wasn't ready for another crystal upon his shelf.

"Quiet!" he yelled at his goblins, and the room hushed for a minute. "Is the little knight's armour ready yet?"

The goblins looked up at him confused, he picked up a goblin that looked like a trash can and held him up. "Here, a fine new breastplate," Jareth laughed, it took the goblins a moment to get the joke and laugh along. "Oh dear, it's filled with some sort of mould." He tickled the goblin playfully and let his subject fall on its head. The goblins laughed and pointed, "Silence!" Jareth was sick of their partying. "Go to the trash heap, and find the boy a nice set of armour, I bet he'll be _needing _it." Assigning them jobs would keep them out of his hair. The horde chuckled and scampered off, Jareth smiled wryly after them before heading for his tower.

Matt didn't understand the reason he was here. Why not have a little fun with the boy? Mind games were ever so much fun.

He looked at his cabinet for only a moment, at the crystal top right. All the crystals glittered but this one. He had always intended to give the girl a crystal, but he didn't get the chance and now only a blank crystal to mark its place. "Never again," he muttered softly. Tawny wings took off out the window; his owl form circled the sky like a vulture as he searched for the boy.

Matt clamoured around the Fiery's forest. There was a low drum-beat from the direction of their fire-pit. He breathed heavily; sweat beading down his face from the ordeal. "Well you certainly look like a brave knight," Jareth said mockingly. "You'll be running in circles at this rate."

"You enjoy this don't you?" came the boy's frustrated reply. "Taunting people, generally acting like a jerk."

"I'd probably be lying if I said I didn't," Jareth shrugged. He summoned up one of his crystal balls to fool around with. "You're here to become a knight aren't you, I'm just here to facilitate."

"I need a sword."

Jareth stopped letting his crystal dance around and instead gripped it tightly, "What?"

"Knights have swords don't they, I can't become a knight if I don't have a sword."

A glimmering silver sword like something out of a video game took the place of Jareth's crystal ball. He tossed it towards Matt but the boy panicked and dodged, as it hit the ground it turned into a snake and hissed menacingly. "Shit!" Matt scampered away, bashing himself against a tree.

Laughter echoed among the trees before Jareth stopped to glare at Matt. "Don't be so vulgar little knight." He vanished from sight, watching in his owl form from the top of the tree Matt was backed against.

The little knight turned his attention to the snake that crept towards him, its silver scales shimmering in the muted light. Matt gasped and wiggled away from the snake slowly before turning his back on it and running.

Walls, corners, Matt gasped for air, in his panic he'd gone further into the labyrinth instead of where his goal lay in getting out. He could faintly whiff the nauseating bog from the edge of the trash heap. "Where am I now?" Matt asked with a groan. His eyes widened as a hag with a cart full of stuff came pushing past.

"Hello dear, what are you doing here?" she puttered over, and looked at his clothes almost hungrily.

"I have no idea," Matt inched away from her disgusted.

"You're looking for something, yes?"

"I guess."

"Thought so, everyone who comes here is looking for something."

There was a cool slithering hiss from the dirt, as the silver snake followed Matt. "Augh! That snake again," he moved away from the snake, and consequently towards the woman.

"Is that snake what you're looking for?"

"No way!"

"Then maybe I can help you find what you are looking for, I'm good at that." Before he had a chance to protest the hag had taken him by the hand and was dragging him further into the trash pile. She continuously offered him things, broken mirrors, moth eaten clothes or toys and a copy of 'Beauty and the Beast'.

"It's all garbage," Matt said exasperated.

The hag gasped insulted, "Well, we'll just see about that." She toddled off to find something better.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure little knight," Jareth glared down at him, "Be careful what you are about to throw away isn't what you are looking for."

"Quit being a jerk, and don't call me little knight, my name is Matt!"

"And if you dare speak it to me again, you'll regret it little knight. I shouldn't bother helping a scab like you."

"Helping, how, bringing me here in the first place or throwing that snake in my face?"

"Last chance, boy. The one thing you want here is in that direction," he pointed his white gloves out into the garbage pit. Matt's eyes came to rest on the buffed up armour, and the little old hag drifting greedily towards it.

Matt scrambled over the piles of garbage and lifted the armour away from her hungry fingers. "Hey wait a minute, I saw that first," the hag cried fiercely.

"Tough, it's what I was looking for; you said you wanted to help me."

"But it's so shiny and pretty, I'll trade you, anything."

"Not interested, I have to become a knight in order to get out of here."

"A trade," the old hag pulled out a plunger and waved it to tempt him. She dug around again, and pulled out a copy of 'Labyrinth'.

"I don't need your trash, get out of my face."

"How about this then?" the hag held up a silver key on a long chain with hopeful eyes, "It's shiny too, so the trade is fair."

"I need this!" Matt said and batted the woman away and began putting on the armour.

The illusion spell worked well, Matt had no idea he was wearing garbage armour. That old hag had offered him the key three times, and even when the illusion had been dropped he'd still ignored it. Stupid.

Jareth huffed, the boy was completely stubborn, greedy, and had not a considerate bone in his body. There was nothing good about him, so how Sarah liked him eluded Jareth's reasoning, and that fact made him angrier. "He's not good enough for her, he'll never be."

Matt was running low on time.

"Alright, so I've got armour," Matt triumphantly declared as he walked out of the garbage pit. "What else does a knight need, a sword," he looked back at the snake that still chased him, and shuddered with disgust. "Could probably use a shield, and then of course there's the damsel in distress."

Jareth ears perked, perhaps Matt could...

"And mustn't forget the noble steed," Matt snickered, "the damsel in distress can do that to."

Jareth twitched, horrified.

That was it, complete and utter loathing. The boy was a greedy, show off, with no etiquette and a foul mind. Jareth couldn't think of a worse match for Sarah. He could never understand her. He could never be her prince or knight or goblin king. He would never understand her dreams, let alone fulfil them. Any attachment she grew to him would only end in pain when it was inevitable severed.

Jareth couldn't let that happen. He knew he had to protect Sarah, against her will, against her wishes. Protect her, without her knowledge, and ensure she wouldn't get hurt. Part of her beauty was in her dreams and Jareth wouldn't let that be tainted.

Matt was inspecting a glass wall as his time ran out. He watched shocked as the world broke apart around him. The illusion spell on the trash he was wearing faded and he disgustedly tore it off and threw it off and over the small ledge where it drifted away.

"You failed," Jareth said flatly.

"This place is stupid," Matt yelled.

"I hand you hints all the way, and even when I make it look more important you still ignore it." Jareth glowered at Matt very menacingly.

"Who are you anyway?!" Matt demanded.

"I am what lies at the end of her dreams, and I am what lies at the end of your nightmares."

"That not a real answer."

"I would tell you my name, but you stole it away," Jareth moaned dramatically. "There's no way out now, and I really didn't want to have to make you a goblin, little knight."

"Stop calling me that, I'm Matt!"

Jareth twitched and a long thin rapier materialized in his hand. "Draw your sword."

"I don't have one," Matt said and froze as he heard a familiar hiss behind him.

"Have you learned nothing stupid boy? PICK IT UP!"

Slowly Matt reached out and grabbed the snake which turned back into a sword as he did.

Jareth now had access to the youth's dreams and desires. He scanned them hurriedly; he wasn't sure what he was looking for. Something, anything, to redeem the lad and allow himself a bit of honour in losing the duel. Matt's dreams were exactly what Jareth expected, wealth, fame, women, he paused and looked through them again in his mind. Only a second would go by for Matt anyway. There was no Sarah, not a single dream of her. Except for- it was appalling, it broke Jareth focus with its- it was too vulgar to think about.

Matt stared curiously at Jareth, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

This boy whom Sarah liked so much and dreamed of so fondly had little more than a passing perverted fantasy about her. Jareth was outraged, Sarah, beautiful innocent Sarah, would let that boy rip her heart in two.

Jareth's sword cracked against Matt's and he stared directly into the boy's eyes for the second before the force of the impact sent Matt flying. "You greedy little -" Jareth couldn't come up with a word good enough, as he blocked the boy's careless attacks. "You are a useless, deplorable -" he barely had to move, barely could with the rage bubbling up inside of him. "You have no sense of true value, you are blind to her!"

"Sarah would give herself willingly to your greedy, lying heart! You would take her everything! I'll never let it happen! Never again!" Jareth knocked the sword away from him and pinned him to the ground. "This sword has tasted the blood of your kind before, and it will do so again, to protect Sarah."

"You love her," Matt realized, staring up into Jareth's intense eyes.

Jareth froze for a moment; the boy had spoken words he'd not yet been willing to admit to yet. They were true however, Jareth knew as Matt spoke those words. He'd done himself in again, another crystal to sit on his shelf, another set of walls to expand his great maze.

"You think you know everything," Jareth spat with rage. "You will live, but not in my castle or city, you will live to guard my gate as the pathetic lowly worm that you are. You will forget that old life that tainted dream, and her."

Matt changed, his body shrunk and withered. The two stood before the gate of the labyrinth, under the tree where Jareth had been thrown to when Sarah had spoken this little fool's name. "Listen carefully, I will say your new name once and then I will forget it and you. I am Jareth the Goblin King. And you are a miserable little scab, named Hoggle."


	9. Breaking it Softly

A King's Curse

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A/N: Okay, all the chapters past this one are a bit messy at the moment... re-writes are in order, don't worry, it'll all work out, I think. I'm off to go watch the movie about a half dozen times now, since that is what we are coming up to, yes the movie. Weren't you always wondering just what Jareth was thinking with all the stuff he did and said. Well my brain is trying to work that out too. There's a lot, like, why was Jareth such an ass? Because I'm not going to kill the movie to make my storyline work, and in the end it will all make perfect sense. Just not yet. However I have yet to figure how to communicate properly just what is going on, so I have to re-write like a mad monkey to get it all ready. I want to finish all the writing by Sept 11, which is when I move into residence at my University. I think I can make it. I just need to focus, and not get distracted from the movie by pretty David Bowie interviews... I've become a hopeless fangirl by the by.

Anyway, thank you all for your reviews, gimme some more and encourage me to get the story done. Its getting close to done... I was writing chapter thirteen rough over when I realized I had to go over the movie some more. I don't wanna spend three chapters just going over movie dialog to reveal tiny tidbits on the Jareth motives.

READ AND REVIEW!!

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Chapter Nine - Breaking it Softly

The silence wasn't comforting. Jareth would have begged for a breeze to sweep through the tower, but none would, not today. Yet as unnerving as the silence was, talking the walk through the Escher room and going his subjects in the throne room was not any more attractive.

Goblins running around his toes would only aggravate him. Certainly the Goblins were used to the occasional kick, or slight injuries for the sake of a joke. However Jareth was certain that he didn't want to fly off the handle at them again. He didn't think he could stand turning his throne room into a flaming pit of goblin pain.

Jareth slumped forward over his knees. Somewhere in his Labyrinth there was the goblin that was once the boy Sarah liked, maybe loved. That scab was more aware of Sarah, then she had ever been aware of Jareth. Jareth dragged his gloves through his hair, he was miserable for just doing something so drastic.

What must she be going through?

Jareth could alter the minds of the boy's parents into believing he never existed. He had done so. However altering memories on mass, especially with what magic defences Sarah must have, that was beyond his abilities. He was unable to protect her from the consequences of his actions.

Unable to do anything, Jareth hated the feeling. Yet he still managed to force himself into the position almost constantly. Grunting his annoyance he looked up at his labyrinth model, he'd not touched in a long time, and he knew it was inaccurate. Then there was the box. The first chest had held Labyrinth pieces; the second was his father's things, the third... Jareth was certain that he didn't want to know.

What were his options? What could he do? He could watch, and wait for her to give him the power to act, or he could sit there.

Not much choice. Jareth glanced over towards the cabinet of crystals. He could, maybe a short talk would do him good, then again it might make him feel worse. He summoned his clock, 11:30; it was a Tuesday on top of that.

He wouldn't disturb his subjects; he'd even freeze time in the goblin kingdom as he left. His owl form left through the tower window. And the human world washed in to replace his own.

Jareth landed on the windowsill of Sarah's class. After two weeks of trailing her he'd figured out which one was which. This one happened to be the class she would have shared with Matt. He could just barely see Sarah's saddened face through the window. 

She glanced regularly back the chair where Matt should have been sitting. The owl pressed his head against the glass as if somehow that would allow his remorse to reach her.

Finally the bell rang, Sarah would move on, to a class where she didn't think about him. Well, lunch if you wanted to be picky. She would leave and the memories would fade into another piece of discoloured parchment that was mortality. Sarah's head span towards the front of the room.

Jareth stared in confused, but he wasn't at a good angle, and thick school glass didn't help him hear what was going on at all. However he did notice when Sarah _ran_ from the classroom.

What was going on? What had the teacher told her?

Sarah always had lunch with Nicole on the main steps. Jareth stopped there. Nicole sat there, chatting at the occasional passersby. Sarah however wasn't there however. She should have been there, especially if she was running. Jareth was getting nervous again, pacing his branch, generally looking like an owl acting like a chicken with its head cut off. At least for Jareth, he hardly acted out this much.

Then he heard the dull metallic slam of the school doors. Sarah half leapt down the steps. She had her backpack on, she didn't even stop where Nicole was sitting, she was just running down the street.

Jareth followed, his wings beat heavy and slow, with his heart pounding in his ears. Once again he didn't understand what was going on. Was it something to do with Matt?

Sarah ran, her hand reached up to brush a few sparkling tears out of her eyes as she rushed into an intersection.

Screeching wheels.

A dull thud.

Sarah's angelic form lay sprawled unnaturally along the pavement.

Jareth lost all concentration, he even lost his own form. The pavement was a hard landing, but he could care less about the dirt or the scrapes in his clothing. He couldn't hold himself back. Black leggings dragged against the pavement, he was touching her, softly, gently lifting her limp form.

The driver stopped over them and swore. He lurched backwards and in a panic was about to get into his vehicle and drive away. A blood speckled glove grabbed him violently. "Wish for me to heal her," Jareth demanded as the man wriggled.

"What the hell man!?"

"Wish for me to save her!"

"Alright man, I wish you would save her."

In that moment both he and Sarah disappeared. They were back in his kingdom where his magic could move freely. He hated the fact that he needed permission to use his magic in the human world. Loathed it, especially now.

He laid her down gently on the bed of one of his castle's spare rooms.

Still she laid there, she would sleep restfully, but it was his fault. If he hadn't forced Matt through his labyrinth she never would have done something so reckless. She had to have heard the lies of his disappearance through the school teachers and freaked out.

Jareth felt like a fool. He'd been trying to protect her. Protect her from some stupid boy. He pressed his hands against his face, it was no good.

True his magic would save her, it would take time. She would likely sleep through it. It probably wouldn't help her remember either. It wasn't likely Sarah would remember being hit, let alone having the Goblin King whisk her away for healing. Even the driver would probably think it all a daydream as the magic of Jareth's world jumping fogged his mind. The car might remember, on account of a small dent in the bumper, but that would remain a mystery for all but the car, and seeing that it didn't have much of a mouth it couldn't very well spill the beans.

Magic was tricky like that, running through Sarah she would sleep, maybe dream.

Jareth looked towards her hand; he could just take her dreams. All he'd need to do is touch her bare flesh to his crystal and he would have the replica of all her dreams. Jareth summoned a crystal and moved closer to her... then he put the crystal away and manoeuvred the blankets over top of her.

The Goblin King brushed the gossamer curtain of Sarah's hair away from her face. Her beautiful hair, it felt like silk and slipped through his fingers like it was never there. She intoxicated him, made him impulsive, and inexplicably high. Ever so slowly he let his body slump over until he was rested on top of her. How could he have been so stupid, she was wild and untameable and at the same time so very meek. She smelled like the warm sun on fresh peaches on a cool morning. She was sunshine, a beam of light into his dark and lonely underground, and yet she had no idea.

Jareth pulled himself away from her and went to the door. Then he turned to look at her. She seemed so out of place in this goblin styled bedroom. Everything was too dark and mildly twisted.

This was something easy to remedy. Jareth walked over and started infusing his magic into the bed. A honey coloured frame held translucent white curtains. The bedspread was white with a pattern of pink blossoms. Jareth slowly changed the furniture to match.

Then he placed a peach on the nightstand and stepped back.

Now the room suited her, it made her rich brown hair the most striking feature of the room.

It was a pity she would never see it. Jareth resisted the overwhelming urge to sigh. Sarah would have to be taken home. She would wake up soon. It wouldn't be a good idea with her memories clouded by magic to find herself somewhere unfamiliar.

She stirred, the magic had done its job faster than he'd expected.

Gently he lifted her; she was light as a feather and at the same time a boulder... He fixed his mind on the location, her bedroom, his own world melted away into hers. His and hers, their worlds were separate... he fought back the nausea of the trip.

Gently, he laid her down on the bed, they he slowly pulled off his glove, the bare skin of his hand running across her cheek. For Jareth there was nothing softer in the world. He'd saved her...

Picking up one of Sarah's stuffed toys, a particularly fluffy one, Jareth placed it on the end of the bed. "Protect her well, sir knight, she means a lot to me..." He noticed his Goblin spies were staring at him. "I don't want my latest victim getting hurt before I run her through the Labyrinth," he said coolly, "you can sleep until something important happens."

Magic washed over his subjects who curled up comfortably together in the shadows.

Jareth took the chance to look over Sarah's room. Each stuffed toy glowed with the love she poured into them, and it was her own special magic. Some of them even resembled members of his goblin horde. He turned towards her books and his eyes landed on a disturbingly familiar bookend. It was the spitting image of Hoggle, or as he went while he was human, Matt. It stung to look at it; he was the source of so much grief. No, not really, Jareth had created his own grief. He glared at the bookend anyway, until his mind and eyes shifted ever so slightly to the left and Sarah's copy of 'Cinderella'.

He put his glove back on before carefully removing the book from its place and moving to Sarah's chair. He'd stay with her, at least until she woke up. The book opened with the sort of silence that comes from well used bindings.

Now he knew the references that Sarah had made while they danced. Jareth found it rather unrealistic; Cinderella and the Prince had apparently fallen in love with just one dance. It seemed ridiculous, but Jareth seemed to think he could have done the same thing not long ago.

Love was trickier than that.

Replacing the book Jareth looked at Sarah's copy of 'Beauty and the Beast' briefly. The burly red and horned image of Beast looked back up at him. Could he be that big lovable monster? No, Jareth was a real monster, he didn't look it, but he felt it.

He stared off into space, his mind wandering, until he realized that 'into space' was directly at his boots. With that fact called to his attention, it was a lot harder to let his mind drift. Why was it always his boots that he focussed on?

This was entirely their fault, he wasn't sure why but he blamed his shoes. He'd slipped up; instead of protecting her heart he'd ripped it from her hands. Really his boots couldn't have been at fault, because Jareth had guided them, but it hurt enough without blaming himself, so, it was the shoes.

Sarah stirred, and her protective guardian slipped silently into the shadows, his magic masking his presence. "What was I doing?" the befuddled girl asked herself, looking around the room. She didn't seem to notice 'Beauty and the Beast' sitting out of place. Her mind was trying to piece together everything that had gone on.

She wouldn't remember, not getting hit, and certainly not the Goblin King's actions of her behalf. Despite this, Jareth wished she would remember.

Sarah drooped; it was obvious what her mind had gone back to, Matt. "What am I going to do?" she asked, and pulled her arms tightly around her shoulders.

Jareth watched her trembling form. He was helpless, particularly while he tried to keep up his image for the goblins. Yet he would bleed and die for her sake if she only knew how to ask.

Sarah curled up into a ball on her floor.

A familiar ball of hair understood, Merlin plodded into the room and nudged Sarah's face with his wet nose. He whimpered and flopped down next to her. "What's the matter boy, you want a walk?"

Merlin looked over towards where Jareth stood. He just seemed to smile a knowing doggy sort of smile as Sarah got up and ready to take her beloved companion to the park.

Jareth watched as the pair left the room. The Goblin King couldn't be the same sort of comfort as Merlin. In terms of fantasy that dog was Sarah's noble steed. Jareth just hoped, that somewhere, he could be a big-hearted red beast, with the courage to move mountains.


	10. Waiting

A King's Curse

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A/N: Alright, chapter ten. Everything is moving forward. I'll tell you though, it was rough writing them next four chapters, they occur during the movie, but I wanted to quote as little as possible. I'm going to say it now, the Henson Company had no idea what Jareth was thinking through any of the movie. That's what I think anyway, he was less than thought through antagonist/romantic interest, but damn isn't it a wicked combination.

Anyway, unless I say otherwise chapter fourteen will be the last chapter, because that is where I switch perspectives and move onto a sequel.

Ah, I love why questions, except when why questions is just someone saying 'why?' to everything you say.

Anywhotie, review meat sacks, and you'll get more writing, because if this gets as little love as chapter nine than I'm going to put up a moody rant, and you don't wnat a moody rant do you? REVIEW!!

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Chapter Ten - Waiting

Papers. Why were there so many papers? Most of them he didn't even need to do anything with, they just sat around taking up room. Jareth didn't want to deal with so many papers. However he needed to stay distracted. The tower only made him think, and there wasn't even a wind today, and the rowdy goblin party he could hear outside was no help.

He was waiting.

The Goblins had created a dirty limerick in reference to their king's choice in victims. If they were truly desperate for victims they would run off to find their own. However it would probably end up being the subject of the dirty limerick, Sarah.

His mind couldn't leave the thoughts of her. Her silken hair, her gentle face, her dream inducing scent, her soft skin against his.

Sarah. That single word pounded through his brain over and over. Her room, her clothes, her books, her toys, the soft coo of her voice. Sarah. Her nose, her freckles, her eyes, and her soft supple lips. She was still so young by even human standards, vivacious, alive, and tender...

Vigorously, he shook his head, he'd condemned a boy for having lustful thoughts about Sarah, and all the while his mind teetered dangerously close to the same thing.

He should never have touched her, never let himself know how soft her skin was, how delicate her form, how invigorating her scent. He should have had more restraint, and not run his fingers through her hair or felt her heartbeat against himself. Jareth bit his own lip and cursed himself, both for going so far and for not going farther.

Despite his best efforts, he couldn't forget anything. Not a word, not a picture escaped his mind. He had always been good at making himself forget; siphoning off his emotions to some dark place in the back of his mind...

He flopped awkwardly, he wanted a distraction, he would normally be able to provide one himself, and he'd be able to think far enough past his own emotions to tease some of his subjects. Yet despite the fact that they partied just in the next room him he was stuck in his own mind.

Still waiting.

Through it all, the thoughts, the feelings, he felt disturbingly less...

The door to the study opened and closed in a fury sending a great number of the papers flying around the room in a near deadly rampage. There was a good reason however, the cat goblin who cared for the study was panting heavily against the door. There appeared to be some sort of pudding on her face.

Jareth moved his head from behind the stack of papers to make his presence known. "Your highness," she gasped and hurriedly began wiping the substance from her slick black fur. "What? May I ask, what are you doing here?"

"Paperwork I believe is the term," Jareth said absently and signed a twelve year old prisoner release form, that goblin should have learned his lesson if he hadn't gotten himself beheaded or anything.

"I don't suppose you'd have the time," she said timidly and stepped forward with the latest additions to the stacks.

"What have you got for me?"

"Complaint sheets, there's been a large red beast terrorizing the garden maze, but local patrols are on it. The firey gang has moved to the outer side of the forest bridge. Aside from that's it mostly the usual. There is also a knighting sheet her, for a Didymus, he lost an eye in the battle of Florn."

"Nasty creature that Florn, excrement in all the tunnels."

"Quite, Your Highness. The soon to be knight and his steed Ambrosias are set for retirement in the bog of eternal stench."

"Well I don't think anyone would envy him," Jareth leaned down and signed the paper that the cat goblin held up for him.

"Reportedly he chose the location himself. There is also a short confirmation letter on the completion of the cleaner machine for clearing the tunnels of the filth left by Florn."

"Why children wish away their pets is beyond me, but you're a good lot."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Jareth smiled, the animal goblins had such etiquette. The cat had not even licked her paws to remove the pudding but had pulled out a handkerchief. "If you don't mind my asking, Your Highness, what has brought on your sudden interest in paperwork?"

"Curiosity killed the cat," Jareth said coldly, he didn't want to think about it, not when he'd finally gotten it out of his head.

"We must not look at goblin men; we must not eat their fruits," the cat goblin quoted sneakily. Jareth fought back a sigh, it was an awful saying, from a despicable poem. Then the cat goblin's paw rested gently on Jareth shirt. "I'm sure it'll work out, you're a good king."

Jareth turned towards her shocked. Hurriedly she took her paw away and scampered for the door. "Well, back to the anarchy I suppose."

"What's your name?" Jareth asked.

She froze, "Kaiaraki, young master."

Jareth twitched, "Young master, what notions are you under?"

There was a loud crash from outside the door, hurriedly Jareth headed out to cease the anarchy. Kaiaraki sighed with relief, as he left, then looked with a fond glance at the picture in her hands.

"What's going on!?" Jareth demanded.

"Pictures!" one of the goblins shouted happily and threw the many sheets of paper into the air. The other goblins were making very loud attempts to catch these pictures, crashing into each other. There was a lot of breaking things. Jareth didn't keep anything important in the throne room for just this reason. Frustrated he reached out and snatched one of the falling pictures.

"What is-" Jareth froze and looked at the picture. Why? Why were his subjects so mind boggling stupid. Jareth nearly shook as he looked at the picture of Sarah holding Toby. It even had their names written in one corner, clearly photocopied with a cheap machine. How? How could his subjects, so blissfully unaware, do this sort of thing to him?

He needed to see her... He couldn't just sit around waiting for news of her anymore. "I'm going out," he tossed the picture in the air. "All this had better be gone by the time I get back."

Shadow magic was a useful tool; it turned the conspicuous into the inconspicuous. Jareth had it working almost perpetually while he wandered the human world. It was one the few skills that nearly all goblins excelled in, even if they still hid under bed sheets and in closets.

Sarah however was an exceptional human being. When Jareth teleported himself into her living room where she talked with her step mother he was steeped in shadow magic. Sarah whirled to stare at his oddly missing presence, until Irene cut in.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you Sarah."

"It's nothing you haven't said before," Sarah groaned, Jareth had escaped her radar again, barely.

"Sarah, your father and I have a reservation for seven, and a show afterwards. Try to be home by six."

"It's not fair. I'm just going to the park, you're lecturing me like I'm going to stay there until noon tomorrow."

Robert walked in holding a cartridge for their printer. "Have either of you been using the copier for anything?"

"You were late last week." Irene said. "No Robert."

"By five minutes, you just wanted me home before you even got ready to go."

"Sarah this isn't," Irene stopped as she heard Toby's crying from upstairs. Robert however touched Irene's shoulder and headed upstairs.

"Doesn't he ever shut up?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah, your brother has an ear infection; it's very painful and confusing for him."

"And I nearly have a heart attack because teachers can't communicate the difference between 'at' and 'in'," Sarah said dramatically. "I'm taking Merlin for his walk."

"Sarah, don't you dare walk away from me. You are babysitting Toby tonight."

"I shouldn't have to!" Sarah yelled as she was at the door. "It's not fair," the door was slammed behind her.

Jareth sighed from the shadows. Sarah grew more distant from her family. He knew from experience that this was dangerous. Brokenness was an emotional hazard at the best of times.

Nerzel never understood how to be a father. It wasn't as extreme, but Sarah was living through the same form of rejection. Jareth had watched her practically storm out the door with her dress and tiara and Merlin following at her heels.

Then with a bit of magic the window flung open and Jareth made his escape from the room in his owl form.

Wind beneath his wings, he soared to his favourite perch in their tree. Sarah pulled the dress over her shirt and jeans.

"The Goblin City," Sarah gasped, once again she was Evelyn. She lifted her hand to push past the invisible gates of the goblin city. The dialog in this chapter was thin, as the princess's companions waned while protecting her until she would face the Goblin King alone.

This was also a very active chapter; Jareth flew over to a post to get a better view of where she had mentally placed the Goblin King's tower.

Thunder struck in the distance, Jareth's focus was broken. Looking up at the sky, he could practically smell the rain that was about to come pouring down. His feathers would be soaked, and he would have to make the jump home on solid ground.

"You have no power over me," Sarah looked up the line, with more thunder.

However perhaps seeing Sarah in a wet shirt would be worth it- no. Jareth shook his owl head in frustration of his own desires and took off.

Avoiding temptation might be the best thing. The human world dissolved and his own comfortably secluded labyrinth would take its place. He'd just sit around and wait for news. Sit around and hope his goblins would think up a good enough distraction to keep his mind off of her.

With long, commanding strides he entered the throne room to discover the sopping wet wads of paper that were sticking to the walls and floor and ceiling as the other goblins dodged. The culprit was a goblin with a straw and a stack of Sarah's pictures.

Jareth lifted the goblin up, "Clean it!"

The goblin nearly fainted from the word. 'Clean' was practically a swear to most goblins. Jareth half tossed the goblin away to get to work as he flopped onto his throne with a sigh.

There had to be something he could do, something to ease Sarah's uncomfortable home life. He'd always wanted a sibling; he didn't understand how children could wish theirs away, so he took them in. Sarah was not him; she didn't want a baby brother to steal away more of her father's affections. He'd seen it before; it was the kind of emotional build up that lead sibling to be wished away.

The door to the back room slammed, the goblin trudged to his throne and bowed. He had a large almost bovine nose, and small eyes, he wore a large horned helmet. And in his arms was a screaming infant.

Jareth felt the color, what little there was, drain from his face, "Toby."


	11. Reaching Out

A King's Curse

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A/N:Then number of reviews I got for the last chapter is slightly depressing, but I've waited for you guys long enough. Here's the next chapter. Haven't you ever wondered what Jareth was up to while Sarah was running around the Labyrinth. Well here's my interpretation as well as a bit of explanation for some of the less than friendly things he did to Sarah. I was never pleased with him acting like such a jerk, until I wrote it. See if you can figure out what's going on, I dare you.

I've finished actually writing it, so this is done now and you shall see it all when I post it. After this I'm doing a side story for my friend **BK I got it** and then I'll probably work on the sequel, yes there is a sequel coming. I might write another chapter for my fluff archive, or I might not, fluff archives are for when you need to write something but don't want to work on serious storyline.

Anyway, please give me reviews, for they fill me with happy happy joy joy, that makes me run around the room making airplane noises with my arms outstretched. I really do that. So... review. Anyone who goes back and reviews chapter ten on top of reviewing this chapter gets chocolate.

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Chapter Eleven - Reaching Out

_Jareth felt the color, what little there was, drain from his face, "Toby."_

Sarah had wished away her baby brother. The goblin in front of him way saying something, but he couldn't hear it. He couldn't even hear Toby's obvious wail. He could see it, but his mind was barely registering that.

Nothing was in focus; it was almost as though his brain had completely shut down from shock.

Sarah had wished away Toby, had indirectly invited the goblins to wreak havoc around her house. Jareth couldn't breathe. The goblins were perfectly willing and capable to cause the serious physical or mental harm. There wasn't time; every second was another moment that the goblins had to potentially torture Sarah. Saving her from his own subjects was not what Jareth was hoping for as news.

Body reshaping, owl limbs took the place of his more human ones. It burned to transform with his mind so scattered. He took off; teleporting before he'd even left the throne room.

The human world came into view, Sarah was in her parents room. Just beyond his reach behind French doors.

Jareth's claws scraped against the glass, and Sarah turned to stare at him in terror. Jareth nearly froze, but he couldn't, he had to get in there before the goblins... he could already see them scampering around the room, He needed to focus. Needed to spell those damn doors open.

Thunder.

The goblins were cheekily sticking their heads from corners to laugh at her before disappearing, they'd had plenty of time to plan what nasty fun they could have with her.

Thunder.

Jareth pulled back, tried to focus in the blaring cold with Sarah's terror filed eyes clouding his mind. The doors opened, he flew around Sarah once, hissing slightly to warn his minions to back off.

Then back by the door, he assumed his normal shape.

Slowly relaxing from her defensive position Sarah looked up at him."You're him aren't you, you're the Goblin King," Sarah gasped. Jareth couldn't help but smile. He was there, she was there, and he would never be just a part of her book again...

"I want my baby brother back, please, if it's all the same."

"What's said is said," Jareth said coolly, crossing his arms. It was an automated response, something he'd said to dozens of others. He couldn't understand this; he couldn't pull up the suave and dashing that had come to him at the dance.

He was on automatic pilot, a cold figure. Her voice trembled, he wanted to hold her, but could not. Her plea for her brother broke his heart, but it was the goblins she had wished Toby to, not him specifically, he could not. Though she was on the verge of tears, he could not tell whether they were for Toby or for herself. She was frightened, and it was all too natural, for him, to be terrifying.

He summoned the crystal; it felt so much like the last time... just a touch and he would have her dreams, and her crystal could sit on his shelf. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do for me-" She didn't even understand what he was offering, what potential horrors he had saved her from by coming himself.

"Sarah." The authority in his voice rang clear, but a snake coiled around his glove for effect. "Don't defy me."

Jareth could feel the twitch of his leg as he refused to let it himself reach for her as the snake threatened to coil around her neck. He turned it to a handkerchief and it fell to the floor and the hands of a snickering goblin.

"You're no match for me Sarah," Jareth said with a smile. _Keep her away_, a voice seemed to ring in his head, _push her away_.

Still she pleaded.

Jareth stepped aside, summoned a portal that would lead her into his labyrinth. He followed her, fighting back the feeling of nausea that swept over him as the world slipped away beneath his feet. Sarah, like most, seemed not to notice. It was only Jareth who would get sick from such a simple thing.

"Is that the castle beyond the goblin city?" Sarah asked.

Somewhere inside of himself Jareth felt a squirm of fear. _Chase her away, she must fail._ "Turn back before it's too late."

She was young, and her youth alone would not be enough, the Labyrinth brought growth and change to all who entered it. It will crush her.

Jareth stepped closer, waves of nausea were hitting him. He played with the idea of holding her. _Push her away_. He settled with whispering in her ear. He was close enough to feel the strands of her hair tickle his face in the breeze, and he had to push away.

He stepped back, the queasiness worsening. "You have thirteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us... forever." He faded, using a gradual teleport to keep down the nausea until he was out of sight. He looked down at his clothes, "Such a pity." The bile climbed up his throat.

Jareth left his personal bathroom, with a terrible taste in his mouth and rather unpleasant stain on his clothing. However having an on-suite was excellent for avoiding detection of his little, dilemma.

It was a pity, he really liked that outfit. It was set aside to be cleaned, which was a rather rare thing to be done in the kingdom by anyone except him. Mostly the dirty brown pigment that goblin had to their skin was not their natural color. Jareth preferred to be clean, which was why he insisted on having the room with an on-suite as his master bedroom.

He pulled something comfortable out of his closet, a white shirt with cuffs that looked like snowflakes and absolutely no neckline to speak of with the exception that he made one with the loose cloth when he pulled a black vest over it. Grey leggings were tucked into black boots. He pulled his favourite leather jacket over it and he made his way down to the throne room.

Had to keep on his toes; the goblins had been left alone with Toby after all.

There was, of course, anarchy. In the middle of it was a red striped pyjama wearing infant crying. He didn't seem to be in any trouble, the goblins seem satisfied with his loud crying. They had decided that the child did not need more torturing.

Jareth leaned over the crying boy and the group of goblins that surrounded him. "I want the boy intact," Jareth instructed coldly. Most goblins didn't share Jareth's opinions on anything, cleanliness, torturing methods, and definitely not children. He was prone to letting his horde have their way, but not today.

Jareth stretched out in his armchair. The goblins raved about their latest guest; Sarah was practically a popular figurehead for them right now. Albeit a goblin 'fad' could last for as short as two days, Jareth could already see the poorly made Sarah Williams merchandise that had been created. He wouldn't have been surprised if every goblin in the labyrinth knew who she was. Logically he shouldn't have sent his goblins to spy on her. However if Sarah had wished Toby away while his goblins were not under orders the boy would have been replaced with a goblin double.

Toby was still crying, he couldn't stand it, and the little fellow would wear away his voice eventually. Jareth couldn't have that, so he stalked towards the kitchen. He rarely had to care for a baby for thirteen hours, but he'd done it before with minimal fuss. Heck he'd taken care of one young miss for three days. It would be easier to just turn Toby into a goblin and let the little scamp take care of himself, but he could not turn down those who wanted to run his labyrinth.

Jareth also knew he couldn't trust his goblin cook. He brewed the formula himself, with two crystals floating on either side. To the left was Toby, to make sure the goblins didn't have any stupid ideas. To the right, Sarah, still running the endless corridor and trying to decipher what cryptic clues had been given to her.

The crystals disappeared and Jareth walked with the bottle back to the throne room, where Toby still cried, and hoisted him from the group of goblins that surrounded him. "Are you hungry, little chap?" Despite the offering, the bottle of formula was rejected.

Jareth rocked Toby doubtfully, he knew what cries for attention were most of all.

"I bet your tired," Jareth said after a moment and he waved his hand over Toby to induce a sleep, it was magical however, so Toby would sleep for about an hour, wake up refreshed, and thusly be tired enough to sleep the night when he was returned home. Returned home, that was a strange thought. Jareth felt the need to contemplate it; he laid Toby down in his throne and wrapped his jacket around the boy.

"If he gets hurt, every one of you, is getting a dunk in the bog of eternal stench." Jareth warned as his tower called. His crystals summoned back to him as he climbed through the Escher room until he reached the solitude of the tower, not that any goblin dared to walk into the Escher room to begin with.

However as he opened the door to the tower, there was a dark hollow feeling inside of him. He proceeded to the chair in the centre of the room; he needed to make a decision. It was probably the most important thing he had to think about in a few hundred years.

Why had he behaved so coldly towards Sarah? He was certain he'd been much more charming at her school dance... And what did he want the outcome of the labyrinth to be?

Jareth loved Sarah, or so he thought. Was it the goblins that he was putting on an act for? Mostly around them he just did whatever he wanted.

Then, there was the Labyrinth, it was the only logical way for Sarah to find out about his existence, but he didn't like it. So then, what end did he want to lead her to...? Toby was a sweet little chap, but Jareth wanted him home. He could simply have Sarah lose and take Toby place, she would stay forever...

Toby had woken up and was already starting to cry.

Jareth returned to the throne room, and checked on the boy. "Come on, what's wrong?" he asked Toby. The boy wasn't hungry, he didn't need to be changed, and he didn't want to play. He was placed back in the centre of the room, for the goblins to fascinate themselves with his crying.

He began to tap his riding crop on his boots. Why his boots? He seemed to stare at his boots whenever he didn't have the answers to his own questions. As if his boots knew the answer, Jareth scoffed. A peek in his crystal revealed Sarah to have gotten out of the endless corridor. Jareth tried to stop himself from staring at his boots, as he held his chin in thought, and his eyes went to the clock. Over three and a half hours had passed since Sarah had entered the Labyrinth.

Toby continued to cry... Jareth looked towards him and realized from the anguish on the little boy's face. He was in pain.

Jareth spread his magic throughout the room. It function was twofold; first it played music to occupy the goblins, who join Jareth for a rowdy and entertaining song. Secondly it healed Toby. Soon the baby had a pleasant smile and was dancing and laughing along with the goblins.

Liquor was dispersed. Jareth threw Toby playfully into the air. Then he settled into his chair and placed Toby at the foot of his throne. A crystal ball summoned to Jareth's hand and he very quickly switched to being hunched over at the very edge of his seat. The gobbling knew that look, soon he had a very large surrounding, all the goblins circled him, some going so far as to hang themselves over the edge of his throne to get a better look. The images he was faced with were most troublesome.

_No, she shouldn't be there. Fight her. Push her back._

"She's in the oubliette."


	12. Festering Wounds

A King's Curse

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A/N: So close to the end... there's only two more chapters guys. I'd kinda like it if I was getting more reviews, but whatever, you're entitled to do what you like.

I don't really need to say anything, so read, review, and enjoy.

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Chapter Twelve - Festering Wounds

There were plans to be made, schemes to be put through. Jareth sat at the junction disguised as what looked something between a goblin, a pirate and a hobo. In the distance he could hear the echo of the false alarms. Hoggle had failed him; Sarah was now wandering the labyrinth instead of returning to the beginning. Based on the echoes of further false alarms, Sarah was headed his way.

It figured that miserable scab would be just as clueless as a goblin as he was when he was human. Jareth called his ball, it rolled to him from the direction of the oubliette. I also beckoned around the corner a particularly infuriating figure. The dwarf, Hoggle, Matt. He was _leading_ Sarah. The crystal ball jumped into the mug Jareth held.

"What have we here?" Jareth asked in a sing-song voice that held back his anger.

This however was broken when Hoggle had the sheer audacity to answer, "Nothing."

Jareth fumed.

Hoggle was not supposed to be with Sarah. The dwarf shouldn't have been guiding her. He was given the honour of leading Sarah out of the labyrinth.

Jareth practically threw off his disguise with a malicious smile. "Hello Hedgewart," he smiled, he knew it wasn't the cretin's name. Corrections flew around the corridor, but it bothered Hoggle, which was the point.

Jareth spoke in a tone of sing-song accusations. This was not a good sign to anyone who knew him; it meant he was too mad to act mad. Usually it ended in pain for whomever Jareth used the tone upon. Hoggle took the most logical way out, and lied.

Jareth turned to Sarah's shocked expression for a moment.

Sarah. Hoggle was not worthy to stand in her presence. He was nothing but a blemish in the goblin kingdom. He was only in the goblin kingdom to keep him away from Sarah in the first place. Hoggle was going to do the same thing he had when he was human. Rip her heart to shreds.

Jareth supposed he should have just left the fool in an oubliette when he had the chance. Now that rat was around Sarah.

Jareth noticed, around Hoggle's wrist, Sarah's bracelet. A bribe? Not only was the insect not going to do his job, he was making Sarah pay for it. Logically there was a punishment to be exacted.

Threats of the bog popped up, those alone reduced Hoggle to a begging mass that clung to Jareth's leg. Disgusting. The bog was too good for the dwarf.

Jareth would push Hoggle around the labyrinth like the rat he was, with the cleaners as incentive. However, there was also Sarah.

The Goblin King kicked his piteous subject aside. He turned his attention to Sarah. The girl had to ask him for help or else she'd be running with that rat Hoggle.

Jareth leaned close, putting his arm against the wall over her shoulder. He could see her quickened breathing. "And you Sarah, how are you enjoying my Labyrinth?"

She searched his eyes, for a moment it seemed as though she noticed them, the eyes she had stared into deeply once before. She turned nervously and Jareth knew it wasn't the case. Searching for the right answer. Jareth needed only to drop his hand to her shoulder. He could reach her, touch her.

"It's a piece of cake," Sarah replied.

He had no choice. He could not help her unless she asked. He'd been given permission to take Toby, his magic could work freely on the boy, not on Sarah. Now she would have to run, like a rat.

Time was removed from her clock. If she would have to run, he didn't want her running too long, it was mercy the four hours he took away, of course she didn't know it and lashed out. Of course she would. She didn't realize that with a word, he would walk by her side for the journey through the labyrinth.

Jareth had one more ace. As he threw his crystal deep into the tunnel and summoned forth the monstrous machine that was the cleaners, he stepped past Sarah and Hoggle and stood in the doorway of the passage from which they came. If she were to escape that way it would right into his arms...

She ran, grasping Hoggle's hand to help the small man pick up his pace.

A deep sigh. Like rats. Jareth pulled out a crystal ball, he would control their path. Outrunning the cleaners would be easy, even with Hoggle's short legs. Jareth had closed off the side rooms with magical locks as he came down. There were also gates, magically locked, to slow down their running and keep the cleaners at their heels.

Sarah was defiant as ever, Jareth watched from a crystal as she abandoned the gate and beat against the side room passage. When the cleaner got too close... he dropped the lock on it and let Sarah and Hoggle fall through. He couldn't hurt her...

Jareth sighed, Hoggle got to walk Sarah through the labyrinth, not him. His chest panged with jealousy as he stood up and followed the path the cleaners had come from and walked back to the castle.

Jareth wanted to be like Sarah, just scream how unfair everything was to get out his stress. His troubles were far too serious to just have a tantrum about. He punched the wall before proceeding up the stairs that would lead him back into the throne room.

Toby played among the goblins. The boy was remarkably at home. If given the chance to grow the boy would have a remarkable amount of magic. His magic would grow with his dreams, and it already afflicted the goblins so much. Among the affected horde was Kaiaraki.

The cat goblin practically cooed with the small boy in her arms. "You're going to grow up such the scamp, aren't you?" Kaiaraki rocked the boy with such softness in her green eyes.

"You have news for me I suppose," Jareth resisted the urge to groan about his latest defeats in attempts to help Sarah. His throne cushioned his less than graceful flump.

"Oh, um, yes," Kaiaraki stammered, putting Toby down before digging a letter out of the folds of her dress. "Here is the latest letter from the G.D.H. Association."

"Took them long enough," Jareth groaned.

G.D.H. Association was just a glorified title for the garbage dump hags; a faction of goblins who lived within the dump. They were characterized by the potentially valuable possessions they collected on their backs. An agreement had been made in order to trap the boy named Matt.

The troupe was more so a business group than his subjects. Powerful illusionists, altogether they were bold enough to challenge the Goblin King in order to get their way. Doing a deal with them meant that he would receive a list of demands, usually three pages worth of stuff. It was mostly junk to begin with but it was smart to let the hags have their way.

Jareth tore open the letter, his eyes widened.

Just a single line. Only one request meant business. To defy them would almost be to declare war.

The note read: _**We want Sarah.**_

Jareth would have had to sit if he weren't already doing so. His hand came up shakily to cover his face.

Kaiaraki's voice called, but Jareth couldn't make it out. Actually all the sounds around her seemed to be fading away somehow. He stood slowly, not thinking. His tower, he needed to think, needed to be alone. Wandering the Escher room, not focussing on where he was going.

He stared at his feet, they knew the way. Yes, his stupid cocky shoes knew exactly what was going on. Prick boots, refused to share. Not having mouths probably helped them keep shut.

His feet stopped. Jareth opened the door without realizing. Stupid boots had taken him exactly where he wanted to go, just not where he expected to.

Sarah's room, the one he'd made for her. He put his hand up against what looked like straight cut honey colour wood posts. He felt the goblin craftsmanship beneath it though, black, rotting, warped. It was a beautiful metaphor, beautiful outside, and ugly inside, just like him. A reverse 'Beast'.

Jareth could still see the crease of her body among the folds. He could still picture her lying there. Gloves fell to the floor. Pale hands ever so delicately traced the folds that defined her form.

How could he protect her from the garbage hags? The dump almost completely surrounded the goblin city. Jareth's eyes fell to the magical peach he had conjured for her. The answer stared him in the face. If he could move his magic from inside her he could carry her past the dump.

In that state, all her memories would degenerate to that of magical ones. Perhaps with the right dream, he could cause her summon up the one he desired for her to remember.

Gloves were lifted from the floor and returned to the pale hands they warmed. There was now the question of how to give Sarah the peach. She wouldn't accept it from the Goblin King.

A crystal was summoned to his hand, in it Sarah, without Hoggle.

That cretin. How dare he?

Hoggle's image came to his crystal. The coward had run off, abandoned her. Sarah had saved the little whelp's life and he had ditched her. That dirty rat deserved every bit of punishment that Jareth could think of.

Jareth teleported himself right behind Hoggle, as Sarah called the bug. Hoggle turned around. "Well, if it isn't you." Jareth immediately began digging into him. It was so obvious that he was lying that Jareth couldn't hold back the smile.

It was the spite, malice that had crawled back up in Jareth. He was going to have fun. Delicate teasing, watching Hoggle gulp in fear, and try to scamper away like the rat he was.

Jareth was hit by a brain wave. A test, he summoned his crystal ball which turned into a peach as Hoggle caught it. Hoggle could give the peach to Sarah. Or, if Hoggle didn't... it seemed part of him was still trying to cut the fool some slack.

A repulsive little scab, as Jareth pointed out prodding Hoggle spitefully. Sarah could like him, she had. She could befriend any Goblin, it was part of her magic, part of the reason Jareth had fallen in love with her.

Sarah was too good at reaching out. Just not towards the Goblin King.

It burned.

What made Hoggle so worthy?

Hoggle couldn't ever reach the point he needed to. Even if that bag off puss had an infinite amount of time he could never be a prince charming or a knight in shining armour. No matter how saturated with magic, he would never understand. Even if his memories weren't erased he would never understand the function of his journey in the first place.

Jareth however felt he needed to prove the point. "If she ever kisses you, I'll turn you into a prince."

Hoggle drew a blank.

Jareth turned it into a threatening joke. "Prince of the Land of Stench!" he waved his arms dramatically and walked off chuckling.

Of course the fool wouldn't understand, but he still had a chance. Choosing Sarah over his own skin was the only condition. Sarah deserved a 'Beauty and the Beast' moment, even if Jareth couldn't be part of it.

It burned.

Jareth returned to his castle. It was very serious business, weaving a dream.

The dream that would carry Sarah to him.

"I'm taking you to the ball Sarah," he whispered to the wind, "soon."


	13. Best Laid Plans of Goblin Kings

A King's Curse

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A/N: Second to last chapter. I've been disappointed by the scarcity of reviews lately, so this is the end of this author note.

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Chapter 13 - Best Laid Plans of Goblin Kings

Jareth walked through the dream he had weaved. His music played amongst a grand party of goblin aristocrats. This was the society that existed outside of the Labyrinth. When a goblin was born from an adult instead of a child, their behaviour, and appearance, was considerably different. Aging gave the people a stronger sense of identity which they held onto after they'd transformed. The phenomenon was one of few quirks that were actually well documented in the goblin kingdom.

It felt like Jareth's thousandth birthday. Quite the gala that year, Jareth figured most of his incarnated goblins were from those memories. He was drifting from partner to partner.

Still waiting.

The crystal ball he'd sent away on the breeze would be picking up Sarah soon. He could feel his own magic coursing through her.

The partygoers, if it could be correct to call figments of a magical spell such, were generally doing what most 'grown' goblins did. Acting frivolous. Such was their curse, they had almost an eternity to squander. The 'younger' goblins seemed less aware of this fact and thusly could actually bring themselves to do something productive. However there was always the drawback of maturity. Somewhere between five and ten seemed the ideal age, with a boost of intelligence gained from transformation, without the ridiculously vain tendencies of 'older' goblins.

Goblins didn't age, any changes to their appearance were choice related. The magic of the goblin kingdom would keep them all looking the same as when they had first transformed if they didn't choose otherwise.

Most of the 'older' born goblins changed daily. These were the subjects Jareth's father had favoured. Jareth didn't, they made him feel out of place.

Out of place was also how Sarah looked. She wore no mask, but had a trail of silver leaf flowers weaved into her hair. Her dress was that of a music box doll within her room. Pure white dress, with sleeve folds that almost looked like wings. She was an angel among his horde of demons.

Jareth looked at her. His mouth hung agape, it wasn't the sort of thing you thought about while in a dream. Technically it wasn't a dream, not for him. Just images he'd pieced together as a scene, like a play when you've written the script. For Sarah it was a dream.

Sarah wandered, just as lost as she had been at the Halloween dance. Jareth stayed close, but he didn't approach, not yet.

It was then that something caught Jareth's eye, or rather his ear. A woman, dressed as a man, whispered in Jareth's ear as she passed. "He's here," Jareth looked back, but the woman turned and began leaving. He hadn't weaved that into the dream... Then Jareth noticed, Sarah had stopped and was gazing very entranced across the room. When Jareth turned his head to look where she was staring there was nothing, and Sarah had begun weaving through the crowd.

Jareth stayed close trying to remain inconspicuous, dancing away as he watched her climb the steps and be near assaulted with mocking goblin toys. Still she weaved through, searching.

Then, the woman again, she pulled the brim of Jareth's hat to turn his head and gain his attention. "He won't stop, you must fight him."

Jareth whirled his head back towards Sarah; suddenly he had the urge to catch her. He began moving through the crowds. She looked at him, and he quickly pulled away with a dance partner. He didn't understand what he was doing or why. Sarah needed him, and he was dodging, it took a moment to step somewhere with a clear view.

In that moment, a man stepped forward, towards Sarah, and gently took her hand.

Jareth stared in shock at this goblin, wild flaxen hair, a dark blue jacket, and a midnight black mask with two long spiralled horns. Sarah put his hand on his shoulder, and the goblin led her away into the crowd.

Pushing through was no use, Jareth began dancing with another lady, and the room spaced out for him to approach. Sarah's eyes met his for a moment, and then he partner pulled her further. The rest of the goblin surrounded that pair, Jareth was locked out. He circled as she looked almost frantically around the room. The air seemed to leave Jareth's lungs, his head cocked to one side with confusion.

Sarah turned her attention back to her partner. The clock struck and she pulled away.

Her partner backed disappointedly into the crowd.

Jareth reached his hand out for her, but so did every other guest, and so Sarah pulled away harder. She pushed through the crowd, and with Jareth following as closely as he could she ran to the edge. The wall, the wall of the crystal that carried Sarah, and his own consciousness.

It was only a moment the Jareth saw his own reflection. A pale green-grey jacket, a large hat and an almost skeleton looking full faced white mask. The crystal wall shattered.

Jareth was thrust from his weaved world with a jump. He was back in Sarah's room, where he had entered his weaving to begin with. He had wanted to be there when she arrived. Now she wouldn't.

Jareth stood up suddenly, and ran to the window. The bubble had popped over the dump. Then there was that other man. Who had dared to dance with Sarah. Jareth could have wrung his neck if he were an actual person.

More significantly, someone had interfered with his weaving.

To interrupt a dream, would take an extraordinary amount of skill. To pop his bubble would take even more. The only one who could pull off such a feat inside the labyrinth was the hags from the garbage dump.

How dare they? Not only do they make such an outlandish request, but they actually dare to take it from him. Take Sarah.

Well they couldn't have her, even resorting to such sneaky methods as this. As soon as Sarah's thirteen hours ended she would fall into dusk space and then be returned home. There was nothing those hags could do about that little spell.

The only lasting effect would be that he was now guaranteed Toby. Jareth headed for the Escher room. He'd simply go spend time with Toby. The little scamp was an adequate distraction, he didn't want to think about Sarah.

What those hags must be doing to her. When determined the hags were determined enough they could match the character testing of the labyrinth within the span of five minutes. If Sarah had given the goblin power over herself she would turn to a garbage hag without a doubt.

Jareth swooped Toby away from his enamoured horde. Sarah hadn't wished herself to the Labyrinth, not yet. The goblins looked up at Toby, slightly saddened that now only Jareth got to hold the tyke.

Good. If they only felt a fraction of the pain he did...

Sarah was desperately short on time anyway. The horde had no clue about that four hours the he'd shaved off from her time. The hags would not be able to have Sarah wish herself to them.

Toby sat on his knees, the boy seemed discontented. The boy was starting to miss his human family by now, or getting tired. Then again maybe it was the over-fondling from the goblins, in any case Toby's eyes were lacking their initial lustre.

No boy this young should be removed from their family. Toby wasn't done growing, and Sarah wasn't done growing up. The two needed each other.

Jareth knew it was impossible, and thusly he was responsible for the boy until he was turned into a goblin. Jareth beamed at Toby, what sort of goblin would little Toby Williams become?

"Your Highness!" A goblin came running in, his armour rattling. He was the bearer of bad news.

Sarah had entered the city, with Hoggle. Jareth practically growled and demanded the goblins to stop her. He would separate those two, even if it took every goblin in the labyrinth to do it. Matt couldn't have her. Hoggle couldn't have her. Not like this.

Jareth went to the window as the goblins evacuated the room. He had to watch, make sure the goblins didn't get carried away.

How had Sarah done it? Somehow she had defeated the hags.

Perhaps it had even been Sarah who had reweave the dream, it would have been far easier to accomplish from within. Then, what did that mean? Who was the woman that had whispered in his ear? Why was he wearing that mask? And who on earth had Sarah thought she was dancing with?

Jareth went over in his head the list of her companions. Hoggle, useless. Sir Didymus, why that one had been knighted not long ago after losing an eye in the battle of florn. The monster, what monster? Jareth heard the loud roar that reached across the city. Rocks were rolling through his kingdom, as if they had minds of their own. Nothing within his labyrinth should have that amount except for him.

Sarah was winning.

Behind him one of his goblins was wandering around bewildered with Toby in hand.

"Go stop her," Jareth commanded and lifted Toby from that useless bug's hands.

Jareth put Toby down for a moment to slump back to his chair and think. As he sat down a large conglomerate of spit balls, which had been made from Sarah's photograph loosened from the ceiling.

It was soggy, it was gross, and it was all over Jareth.

Fresh clothes, he was probably overdue for a change anyway with all the running about he'd been doing. He lifted Toby up and walked into the Escher room, it would be the perfect place to have him wander about to avoid Sarah. There was also a flexible gravity which would prevent Toby from ever hitting his head.

By the time Jareth had slipped in and out of his bedroom, now wearing something that was both fluffy and white, Toby was confidently climbing upside down above the Goblin King's head.

Jareth had thinking to do, he made his way to the tower. The first thing he noticed was, the box. However it didn't matter. Heck, Toby didn't matter, not really.

It was clear to him, if he hadn't taken away the time Sarah would beat him. What he had considered a small mercy to her had been his own foolishness. She could have beaten him and gone home with Toby, a better person.

That's what mattered, Sarah. Nothing else. He glanced at the shelf of crystals. None of them mattered, none of them were worth anything. Not now that he knew Sarah.

_Push her away._

That damn voice in his head. He didn't want to push her away, he wanted to congratulate her. Wanted to hold her in an embrace. Wanted to walk her home with her hand entwined with his.

He couldn't.

Jareth stormed over to the cabinet and pushed open the protective glass. His magic caused the glass to disappear into the wood and so everything with was exposed. Each would be a memory of being without Sarah. They weren't _her_.

He tipped the whole shelf, let the crystal balls he'd meticulously collect shatter on the floor.

The shards leaked black ooze.

And they didn't reform.

Jareth stepped back. His crystals had always reformed... He backed into the wall and let himself slide to the floor.

The ink crawled across the floor.

Jareth didn't want to handle it. It was too confusing to think about.

Vague memories of the woman who had whispered in his ear, and the man who danced with Sarah. It was too confusing to think about.

The red beast that could summon rocks? It was too confusing to think about.

Leave the black liquid well enough alone.

Jareth teleported himself to the dusk space. He would wait there for Sarah... her time would run out soon enough.

Still waiting. It seemed he'd spend his immortality waiting for her.


	14. Never Alone

A King's Curse

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A/N: Hello peoples, thanks all for your reviews. Just to cover my bases, I have been trying to keep the whole storyline a little ambiguous. Just because the end reveal in this chapter is too brilliant to have a lot of foreshadowing, but some of the sticky in the last few chapters will make sense, sorta, at the end of this chapter. And this is the last chapter of King's Curse. Though I'm pretty sure you won't like that this is the end that's how things go.

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Chapter 14 - Never Alone

Jareth felt betrayed. He'd tried so hard and she hadn't given him a second thought. However he was more frustrated with himself. He could have throttled himself, for taking it out on her. It felt like someone else was talking, his own words coming to him in echo. They didn't make sense, every word he said confused even him. Babbling on out of whatever spite lingered from ancient wounds.

He wasn't really mad. She hadn't really failed. He wasn't even mad that she hadn't failed. True he wanted her to stay behind and take Toby's place. Stay, as a goblin. She probably wouldn't even change in appearance with the strength of her magic.

However, more than that he wanted her to win.

She could have Toby, Jareth had already teleported the sleeping tyke back to his own bed in the human world. However he had to offer her, one last time.

"You have no power over me."

The air left his lungs; Jareth could feel his heart breaking. He hadn't predicted it would hurt so much. He couldn't have guessed that Sarah would somehow rip his heart to shreds.

Jareth assumed his owl form, in order to teleport back with her. It would make his shame all the more if he had to get queasy in front of her. But he had to be there, in case the trip made her sick. It was such a sad excuse.

She was fine, Jareth flew out an open window as her clock stuck midnight. It was her parent's window he flew to, Toby lay drifting to sleep in the crib. Only a moment later Sarah rushed into the room. Jareth could see the sigh of relief in her chest as she tucked Toby in, with Lancelot.

He sighed, but not with relief. Sarah had grown up in her trip through the Labyrinth; he didn't think he could watch anything she did without bleeding. He pressed his head against the glass; Sarah had already left the room anyway.

Why? Why did everything have to be so hard for him? There was a why question he wanted the answer to. It was a question he didn't have the answer to.

Jareth took wing again, moving around the house to Sarah's window. She was in the process of putting away toys. Plush toys inside the bench of her window, but she didn't look up and notice him looking in.

He wasn't even using his shadow magic, and Sarah simply moved away to her vanity and began putting away her scrapbook, and pictures, her music box. She took a long look at Labyrinth, before it too was pushed into the drawer.

Forgotten, almost certainly. She would have to remember past a world of magic. He could easily be waiting outside her window for the rest of her life. It would hurt too much, to watch her become a beautiful woman, have family, grow old, die. He couldn't watch more of the people he cared about die.

Jareth was ready to leave, ready to take flight and never return when he saw something. The goblins, many of his horde, who had spent as much time around Sarah as an arbitrary brick were teleported into her room. He closed his eyes, and hung his head as she dashed across the room to hug Hoggle.

Who would want to see that? Jareth took one mournful last look and flew off.

He flew high, and hard. Until he couldn't hold himself in the human world and the goblin kingdom fell into view.

The city would be anarchy in the aftermath. He stopped just inside the labyrinth. He didn't just feel like going straight home.

Following the path, her path, he walked home the same way Sarah had taken. Even walking through the bog and the garbage dump.

Once he stopped to talk, he pulled over a hag by the garbage on her back. "You ladies didn't happen to weave anything into the dream I made for Sarah, did you?"

"Don't think you can ask us for favours until you deliver the girl."

"Answer the question."

Out of her garbage pile, the hag pulled out a clipboard, "The last dream weaving was three years ago. Would you like to contract a weaving?"

"No, just finding some clarity," and he kept walking.

The city was full of rocks; Jareth kicked several smaller ones as he went.

Of course it was anarchy. "Start a rock removing team," Jareth called to a random group of goblins.

Jareth felt numb, it was like all the pain had simply been siphoned away to make him function well enough. That was good, he couldn't handle pain.

Tracing Sarah's path in a couple hours, numb. It was when he entered his throne room that everything hit him.

_You're a failure. You're not good enough. Barely a King. Less of a man._

Jareth slumped into his throne. He pulled his gloves over his head and he tried to ignore the words he seemed to be yelling at himself. Curling forward he attempted to bury his head into his knees

There was a crash, and out of the back room, where the portal to Sarah's world was came an entourage of goblins, wearing party hats.

_She didn't want you. She'll never want you._

Jareth looked over for a minute before he tore from the room, he had to get away. He didn't want to be seen in such a pitiable state, last time he snapped. He didn't want to look at those goblins that had gone into Sarah's home with her companions. He especially didn't want to see if any of her companions stayed behind.

Walking the Escher room was useless, it was cold, barren. He couldn't walk into her room again. Everything was too painful, he went to the tower, the black ink would have dissipated by now.

Jareth was wrong, he could see the trails that had leaked into the Escher room. It was going to take a long time to clean up. He opened the door slowly, expecting a swell of ooze as he released pressure. Nothing, and he didn't look down to see the ink reaching for his boots, inside the room was far more interesting.

It was the same, except all the walls were made of black marble. When did that happen? Crystal shards still glimmered the floor. Jareth ran his gloves through his hair.

_You fail to understand anything._

The crystals, Sarah had taken the peach, her dreams could be summoned. Jareth sat in his armchair and summoned up a fresh crystal. In it was a swirling black void, it began leaking black ink immediately.

Jareth threw it away, it shattered against the wall, and didn't reform. What was going on? Jareth was too confused to think. It all meant something, it was very important.

He didn't have Sarah's dreams. Somehow she had managed to deny him the only pleasure he would have left.

_Nothing_.

Jareth could feel his chest tightening. It felt like his whole body were trying to suffocate him. He needed to do something, anything. He drifted over to his model.

He felt dead, nothing he could do would have any meaning. In frustration he wrapped his arms around the model and crushed it together, all the walls. Returning to his chair he stared at it, it fit.

The window, Jareth drifted that way, then gasped, he could see it, the labyrinth was literally closing in on itself, and as the walls grew tighter, more walls sprung up to keep the same perimeter. Jareth looked back to his model.

_You need more pieces._

There was still that one box. Leggings dragged on the black marble floor as he kneeled to open the box.

Inside, carefully wrapped in silk was a porcelain doll. Vague lessons trickled through his brain.

Evelyn. It was his mother's doll, named for the princess of the story. It looked just like Sarah.

_She's better off without you. Everything you do is a mistake._

Jareth couldn't hold in the cry of misery. Tears streamed down his cheeks. Sarah had done it, somehow when all the others seemed to fail. Despite beating his labyrinth Sarah had dug her claws further into his being. She was it, and he had lost her.

He found himself curled up in the corner, cradling his mother's doll close to his chest as the warm tears poured down his face.

Sarah had torn him, to shreds, reduced him to a crying mass in a corner.

It was agony, his chest was tightening, he could hear the cries of the goblins as they discovered the closing in walls, it had already gotten to the city. He was a failure as a King, the Labyrinth was now about to crush his subjects alive. He could hear their panic, and it was his fault.

_You failed them all by creating a monster.Yourself._

Jareth wiped his face with a sleeve, that was now covered in black. He removed a glove and tested... his left eye was dripping the black ink. It wasn't just the crystals, it was him, his misery produced the black ink. Jareth gasped at the realization, but then the walls around him were leaking the black ink, it dripped on him, drenched him, the darkness dyed his clothing, his hair.

_Everyone would be better off if you were dead._

That damn voice, Jareth wanted it to go away. _GO AWAY!_ Jareth yelled, but the words didn't come out.

"Failure," the voice spoke, but it was using Jareth's mouth, his body. "No worries, I can take over for you."

_Who are you?_

"Well I'm you, or I used to be. I am the place where your darkness drains to. I am the answer to all those why questions."

_Go away, leave me alone!_

"You let me back in. You should be happy, you always wanted a sibling, after all."

_It's not f-_

"SLEEP!"

Jareth stood up, or rather the other Jareth stood up. He looked very different, considering the black ink had soaked in.

He blinked, his eyes gradually becoming the same size. Those dark eyes peered across the room at the crystal that would be the replica of Sarah's dream. It reformed, and rolled to the dark Jareth's hand. This was placed in the cabinet.

Another crystal, this one held the thoughts of the original Jareth. This was placed next to Sarah's. "There you go, next to Sarah forever... or at least as long as your consciousness can remain without a body."

The magical glass was slid shut.

Jareth ran his hand over the remaining shards on the floor. These became a sword. There was kingdom to rebuild. He ran his tongue along his new sword.

"Much better."

The End

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A/N: See, isn't that a brilliant reveal. Enter_ DARK JARETH_! Please don't throw things at me! I'm working on the sequel already. I'll probably start posting that in about a month depending upon how much work I have at University and how enthralled into other projects I become.

I might post the sequel sooner if you all review. There's been a fallout of reviews the past few chapters which I'm just gonna write off as school so that I don't feel bad. So REVIEW!! Please?

Keep your eyes open for the sequel: **Chasing the Proverbial Dream**

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